Hush Little Baby
by Little Miss Jigsaw
Summary: It's been over two years since eight new slayers were murdered, and there's a new big bad in Salisbury. They intend to destroy the world using a half demon baby. So why could they possibly be after Buffy? Spuffy. CANCELED DUE TO LOST FILES!
1. Prologue: Wedding Day

Alright... here is the prologue for the sequel to the Way Things Are... While I recommend you read that one first, I think you could muddle your way through without reading that one. Oh and Spuffster, I promised you a wedding in this one... here you go.

I hope everyone enjoys this

PROLOGUE: Wedding Day

Buffy was determined to stay asleep, and while it was difficult, she seemed to be succeeding. The constant bouncing of the mattress, and the constant chatter, however, were starting to get to her. With one swipe of her leg, she knocked the feet of the one responsible out from under them. A soft thump, and a "heeeeeyyyy!", followed by an "uh-oh" and a rather loud crash, accompanied by a series of groans told the slayer that she had succeeded in ridding herself of the nuisance for the moment. But a moment was all it was, for not even a minute later, the bouncing and the chatter resumed. Grumbling, Buffy cracked one eye open and saw that the man next to her had his head stuffed under his pillow, from which was coming a long stream of muttered curses. It was then that it occurred to Buffy that there was something special about today. Some reason she was supposed to get up. It certainly wasn't the fact that it was Halloween. There would be no cause to get up early then... The normal Halloween festivities wouldn't begin until much later.

So why then, was her daughter bouncing up and down on the end of the bed, saying that she had to get up or they'd be late? Was it later than she'd thought? Was the fact that it was dark a sign that it was late, and not ridiculously early? A quick peek at the clock answered that question. Nope. It was five-forty-five am. Surely whatever it was that she had forgotten didn't require her to be out of bed _that _early. After all, she'd had a busy night, what with vampires, and demons to slay, and girls to train... a head-over-heels-in-love sister to watch out for... The list went on. Wait... Head-over-heels-in-love. That was it!

"Oh, damn!" Buffy exclaimed, suddenly shooting up, surprising Corrine, making her momentarily stop her attempts to drag her parents out of bed, "Willow, and Oz! Spike," she shook the protesting man's shoulder, "Get up." There were more curses from beneath the pillow, and Spike's grip on it only tightened, when Buffy tried to pull it off his head. Okay, so, not a true vamp anymore, but he still matched her for strength.

Buffy looked towards the end of the bed, where Cory still sat, her ravens-wing black hair pulled into a loose and messy ponytail. "Get him up, will you?" she asked, slipping out of bed. Just as she was entering the bathroom, she heard one big squeak, from the springs of the mattress, then a loud "umph!", followed by the rather breathless voice of Spike. "Bloody hell!" he gasped, "Get off, tidbit! I've got t' soddin' breathe!" Buffy chanced a glance back into her room, to see Cory firmly planted on Spike's back, bony knees digging into his shoulders. She gathered that the girl had jumped on him. As she closed the door to the bathroom she heard an argument start about why Cory had lept on him. She sighed, and shook her head. A special occasion or not, this was starting out as a normal day in what was literally Slayer Central.

She still had a couple of hours to get ready, thank goodness. For a moment she couldn't believe she'd forgotten what that day was- other than Halloween, the only holiday a slayer ever got- but after she considered the way the past few days had been, it wasn't such a shock. With so many new slayers to train, and the vamp activity going up, the fact that Willow and Oz's wedding was today had gone right out of her head. At least Cory hadn't forgotten. But then, she was to excited about being the flower girl to forget. Buffy, for the second time, and likely not the last, in her life was a bride's maid. Dawn was a bride's maid as well. Xander, much to his surprise, and pleasure, was best man. As Willow had long since lost all contact with her parents (as far as anyone could tell, they assumed her dead, buried in Sunnydale), Giles was going to be the one walking her down the aisle, and giving her away.

As she reached out to turn on the hot water in the bathtub, Buffy paused a moment to look at the burn scar on her hand. Every now and then a new slayer would ask why she didn't cover it with makeup, instead of letting it show. This would earn the newbie snickers from the other girls. Buffy never answered that question. Thinking for a moment about the wedding she'd be attending later that day, Buffy smiled slightly. Sure, there may not have been a fancy ceremony, for her and Spike, but in Buffy's opinion, everything they'd been through, topped off with the crumbling of Sunnydale was more binding than any wedding, and the scars they shared, better than any ring,

--------------------

Dawn sat at the kitchen counter, yawning, and tiredly stirring her coffee. She could barely keep her eyes open. Unlike Buffy, she'd remembered what was special about that day the moment she woke up. The problem was, she hadn't remembered the night before, so she hadn't gone to sleep until just a few hours before. She didn't even notice that her friend, Crys, had shuffled into the room until the fridge opened, illuminating the still dark space. Neither of the teens said anything. They were both too tired. Crys plopped down on the stool next to Dawn, and opened a can of soda. That was her morning source of caffine, and sugar, instead of coffee.

Moments later, Crys' brother, and Dawn's boyfriend, Eason, trudged into the kitchen, and, unlike his younger sister, headed straight for the coffee pot. "Morning," he mumbled, running a hand through his close-cropped black hair. Both Dawn and Crys waved vaguely. If too many more people joined, they'd be moving to the dining room, which was usually reserved for dinner, as that was the only time of day that all the residents of the slayer central mansion were home. Also the only meal at which they had company. Sometimes it was Faith and Robin, others it was Oz and Willow. Sometimes Andrew showed up, but that was rare. He generally scampered off home for dinner, or took his girlfriend, Tandy, out.

Only a few minutes after Eason had ruffled his sister's hair, and kissed Dawn good morning, Willow came bouncing in. She had stayed over the previous night, saying that she wanted the first time her and Oz saw each other that day to be when she walked down the aisle. She was un-naturally cheerful, and it was only making Dawn's grumpiness worse. As the witch bade the slayer, and watchers-in-training good morning, Crys finally spoke.

"Say, aren't people supposed to be nervous and fidgety on their wedding day?" she grumbled.

"Generally," Eason commented dryly, trying in vain to get just a little bit more milk to come out of the empty jug, so he could have enough for his cereal.

"I'll be plenty nervous later," Willow informed them, cheerily. She looked towards the door, "Morning Buffy!"

The forementioned slayer groaned, seeing Willow's smile, and hearing her chipper tone, "You're not human... " she growled "If you're going to be cheery and ruin my grumpiness, I'm going back to bed," she attempted to turn, and leave, but Spike stopped her, grumbling something about if he had to be up, so did she.

The non-morning people were only made to suffer further when Cory skipped in, humming various rhymes, and there were more than a few comments about strangling both the bride, and the flower girl.

--------------------

Robin Wood laughed at his girlfriend, as she ranted about reasons why she shouldn't be wearing the dress she was in. Despite the fact that she had picked it out, weeks ago, she was having second thoughts about it now. That was Faith, for you.

"It just isn't me," she finally finished, and Robin began to actually listen again, prepare to resume tuning her out, if necessary.

"Look at it this way, Faith, it's only for the ceremony," he reasoned, "And then everyone's headed back to the mansion for the party. Just be sure to take a change of clothes, or a costume, if you bothered to buy one, and you can change there."

Faith sighed, "Fine... But I still don't like it."

"You picked it."

"During a lapse of sanity, I'm sure," she turned away from the full-length mirror, and faced Robin, "At least you look good."

Robin fidgeted with his tux. He'd never been comfortable in formal clothing. He nodded in thanks. In truth, Faith looked stunning in her dress. It was dark burgundy in color, and made entirely of a soft velvet fabric. It was low-cut, like Faith always wore, without being slutty. It was tight around her upper body, but loosened at the hips, to allow the skirt to hang and fold perfectly. Running her hands over the soft, shiny fabric, and sighing, Faith turned to the mirror one last time, to make sure that every strand of hair was still in place.

"You look fine, Faith," Robin interrupted her, knowing that when she was uncomfortable, she could find something wrong with everything. "Come on, or we'll be late."

-----------------

Spike was not amused. Why he'd let Buffy talk him into wearing this get up, he didn't know, but looking in the mirror, he realized he must have gone insane. _I look like a bloody poofter! _he thought. Both Buffy and Willow however. thought otherwise. According to them, he looked great. He would have much rather worn his normal attire. But nooooo. Instead he had to wear a sodding tux.

At least this wedding would be a bit more bearable than the last he had attended. That one had not only ended badly, but the place had been full of people he didn't know. This time, at least, there would be no strangers. Grumbling, he went to find Buffy, and Willow, who had slipped away at some point during his complaints.

-------------------

Now the nervousness was getting to Willow, as she looked at Buffy, Cory, and Dawn, in their dresses. They only reminded her that soon enough she'd be in hers. Their dresses, like Faith's, were velvet. They were also the same shade of burgundy, though they had dark green accents to them. The green matched Willow's gown. She was going against the tradition of a white dress, and instead using dark green. She'd never been one for white, anyway.

If she and Oz'd had any normal friends, they might have questioned their choice to have the wedding on Halloween, of all days, but since none of their friends were normal, there was no question about it. That was the only day of the year when they were almost guaranteed a few hours of peace with no apocalypse... Granted, there was that incident where they all turned into their costumes... Then there was the fear demon fiasco... And Dawn getting smoochy with a vamp... But that was just a few Halloweens out of many, right? Surely her wedding could be one of the many that didn't get interrupted by some evil spell. And since Dawn was currently dating a normal _human_ there was no chance of a repeat of the Dawn/Vampire incident. _Please, Goddess, let today be apocalypse and demon free._

There was no doubt in her mind that this was a good decision. She hadn't hesitated, even for a moment, to say yes, when Oz had proposed to her. Sometimes she thought that he could have asked her the day he arrived at the mansion, to tell them that something paranormal had been following him, and she would have said yes... But that had been over a year ago, so there was no telling... She'd still been with Kennedy, then. Kennedy... Her ex-girlfriend, and now dead slayer. She, along with eight other new slayers had been murdered by Angel... Or rather, The First, in Angel's body. That had been one hell of an adventure. There was no apocalypse that time. Just good old fashioned revenge.

Every now and then, Willow still felt a pang of guilt over Kennedy's death, but for the most part, she no longer blamed herself. She'd had nearly two years to move on from Kennedy's death, and over three to move on from Tara's. Today she was taking the final step in that process.

-----------------

Oz fidgeted slightly, unlike his bride to be, he hadn't remained impossibly cheerful until the last minute. No. He'd woken up cheerful, but it had dissolved into nervousness within an hour.He didn't bother asking Xander if he'd been that nervous at his wedding...He'd heard what happened with Anya, and doubted that Xander would be much help. Any moment now, Willow was going to be walking down that aisle, and the closer it got to time, the more nervous, and excited the werewolf got.

There, the music had started. Cory was happily skipping down the aisle. throwing rose petals. Moments later, there was Willow, on Giles' arm. The witch looked absolutely breathtaking. Her hair was pulled away from her face, and it had been curled, so the shining red ringlets cascaded down her back. Emerald studs sparkled in her earlobes, matching her eyes perfectly.The dress she wore was several shades of green; dark green, for the upper part of the gown, and the skirt that was split in the front, to reveal a second, lighter colored skirt. Burgundy served as the trim as well as the off-the-shoulder sleeves. In her hands was a bouquet of red roses, and baby's breath.

Oz was pretty sure his heart stopped when he saw her. He was also sure that at any moment he was going to wake up.He felt just as entranced as he had when he'd first seen her, back in highschool, when he'd constantly been asking "Who is that girl?". Meeting his eyes, Willow flashed him a nervous smile. Seeing her smile, all nervousness left the werewolf. He loved this woman. He had since the moment he'd seen her, and that wasn't going to change. This was the right decision, and he had no reason to be jittery.

------------------

Xander watched happily as Oz and Willow were pronounced husband and wife. He was happy for Wills. Happy that she'd found someone she could easily spend the rest of her life with. He'd found someone like that, once. Anya. But he'd blown that, and he hadn't gotten a second chance with her, even though she'd offered him one, once. He wondered if he'd find anyone like Anya again. He'd dated a few women, since Sunnydale, but whenever he did, he'd realize that they did and said things Anya never would have, and he found himself losing interest. Although, there was that new watcher, AnnMarie. Okay, so she didn't have quite the forwardness of Anya, but she still spoke her mind. She also had an innate ability to provide sarcasm at the wrong times.. Always an endearing trait.

------------------

Buffy smiled, as Oz kissed Willow. Seeing them together brought back memories of her highschool and college days... Back before Sunnydale had been too bad, with the hellmouthy stuff, before Glory the hellbitch, before she'd died the second time. Sneaking a glance at Spike, who sat beside her, looking rather uncomfortable, she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened, if she hadn't died, to keep Dawn alive? What if they'd stopped Glory before she could start the ritual... What if Spike hadn't been knocked from the tower? Things certainly would have been different... would she have started sleeping with the bleached vamp? Would he have gone and recovered his soul? Would the incident in the bathroom still have occured? Even now, so long after, the memory of the attempted rape left her with chills. She'd forgiven Spike, of course, but that didn't change what he'd done.

No, no... Thoughts away from that. She was supposed to be enjoying today. To reassure herself of this, she took Spike's hand in hers and gently squeezed it. He looked at her, for a moment, then a small smile tugged at his lips, and he nodded to the spot next to her. Cory had fallen asleep, sometime during the ceremony. Oh well. She would be awake soon enough. The only thing she'd been more excited about that being the flower girl, was her halloween costume. She'd chosen to be Little Red Riding Hood. The thought made Buffy remember what it'd been like to be eight years old, still able to enjoy dressing up on Halloween, for trick-or-treating. Of course, that pleasure would be denied Cory this year, as they were staying home. Though they often ended up with alot of people stopping by the mansion, so she could entertain herself handing out candy.

Whoops... she'd been too caught up in her thoughts... It seemed as though it were time to return to the mansion, and begin the festivities. As she rose from her seat, she caught the former Willow Rosenburg and pulled her into a tight hug. "So how's it feel to be Mrs. Daniel Osbourn?"

"Feels perfect," the witch replied, beaming. She was about to say something else, before Giles caught her, and hugged her as well, surprising the poor woman. "Congratulations, Willow," the watcher said. He turned, to give Oz the same treatment, before deciding against the hug.

Dawn practically skipped over, fingers entwined with Eason's -which Spike clearly disapproved of... this was evident from his glare-, and hugged both Willow and Oz. Still smiling, Buffy turned, and lifted Cory from her seat. The child was still out cold. Spike stroked the girl's hair affectionately, and she stirred briefly, before settling again. Buffy shook her head. Cory was like Spike. She could sleep through anything.

Noting with amusement that Spike was fidgeting anxiously again, Buffy tugged on his arm, to signal that they were leaving. He may have known most everyone there, but that didn't make it any less uncomfortable for him, being around that many people. It wouldn't be as crowded at home, thankfully, since she knew that eventually some of the girls would clear out and either go their rooms, or go out with friends from school.

"Hey, Buffy, hi Spike," two voices chimed near by. Buffy turned. There were the only other slayers, who lived in the mansion, instead of in the dorm. Summer, and Jory. At nineteen, Summer was the same age as Dawn, and more of a watcher than she was a slayer; she rarely if ever patrolled, and was every bit as quick to go into research mode as Giles was. Jory, fifteen, on the other hand, reminded Buffy a bit of herself; she loved a good fight, and left research to the bookworms, saying she'd handle things the easy way. Violence.

"You see where Willow and Oz went?" Jory asked, "I didn't get to hug them to death yet."

Summer rolled her eyes at the younger girl, and asked a question of her own, "Where's Giles? I need to ask him about Monday's lessons."

"Back off girls, you can hug them or bother them, or whatever, when we get home," Buffy scolded... She'd gotten good at that, after two years of living with so many teenagers. Her mom-tones were superb. Enough to rival any real mom, or so she thought.

"C'mon, love, it's gettin' a bit too crowded for my tastes," Spike urged, as Buffy tried to keep Jory and Summer from chasing after Giles and the newlyweds. "An' I think th' bits are abou' t' burst from lack o' excitement"

Buffy nodded in agreement, and stopped her attempts to reign in the two teenage girls. Time to get home, and get things in order. However, as she turned to leave, she was stopped by a sudden dizzy spell. She blinked for a moment, trying to steady herself. For a moment she wondered what was up, but a moment was all she got, for she was being urged to hurry up by her companions. _Maybe I just turned too fast... _She thought, as she headed for the door. _Yeah, that's it... turned too fast... _ But something told her that's not what it was.

-----------------

Forgive me for the lack of detail on the wedding... I've only ever attended one, as the flower girl, 9 or 10 years ago (making me 6 or 7 at the time) so I don't remember much of it...

Also, it has been almost 2 years since the end of my last fic... Now, that's two years after the END, so that makes it probly two and a half, maybe a bit more, since sunnydale


	2. New Case for The Scooby Gang

Okies... Here we go into the real story...

Also, I don;t like disclaimers, but for this one:  
I do not own BtVS, FullMetal Alchemist, or Resident Evil... much as I wish I did...

CHAPTER ONE: New case for the Scooby Gang

It was times like these when Buffy was glad that they lived in the mansion. Otherwise, it would have been far too crowded. She was winding herself through people, most teenage girls. She noticed Dawn amidst the crowd, and made her way over. She looked her younger sister up and down. She was wearing a long white t-shirt, with a green stripe across the chest, and middle of the sleeves. Along with it were orange shorts, white socks, and orange sneakers. Her long hair was pulled up into a ponytail with a shiny purple hair tie. Before Buffy could ask her sister just who she was supposed to be, Eason joined them, dressed in what appeared to be ancient Japanese garb. blue pants, and under-shirt, with a white shirt over, all tied with a pale purple sash.

"Okay," said Buffy, confused," Who the hell are you two supposed to be?"

"Chihiro Ogino," said Dawn, "If you would watch a movie now and then, you'd know."

"And I," said Eason, "Am Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi." He pronounced it perfectly, even adding a hint of an accent. "From the same movie. Though you can call me Haku."

Buffy only shook her head, having no clue what they were talking about. "What about you?" Dawn asked, "Who're you supposed to be?" Buffy looked down at herself. Her shirt was what could qualify as a black band, covering only her breasts, leaving her midsection exposed. as pants she had a pair of pale lilac coveralls, the arms tied at her waist. Her hair was ponytailed, and covered with a pink bandana. Add pair of work boots, and gloves, and a heavy wrench to complete the look and you had-

"Winry Rockbell," the eldest Summers girl replied, as if it were painfully obvious. She had wanted Spike to be Ed Elric, so they'd match, but he firmly refused to have a costume, so she hadn't pressed the matter.

"Hiya, Mama," said Corrine, tugging on Buffy's coveralls. Buffy looked down as her sister and Eason left. Cory looked adorable in her checkered dress, and red cape, and her hair in pigtails. Jory was there as well, in a pair of military green capris, brown combat boots, a pale green t-shirt (the sleeves of which read R.P.D. and S.T.A.R.S.), a white vest with a medic symbol on the back, and a pair of fingerless gloves, and a red choker. Her red hair, which she had cut short weeks ago, looked as though she'd made it purposefully messy. "Rebecca Chambers?" Buffy asked, naming a character from a series of video games that Jory loved.

The red-head nodded, "Yup, and Cory wants me to take her outside, so she can try and scare anyone who comes around, figured I'd ask you or Spike first... I found you, so you get to answer."

"Fine, just don't let her chase anyone."

Jory laughed, remembering the last halloween, and saluted, "Mission orders received and understood, Captain Buffy, sir!"

Ignoring her, Buffy went to join Willow, Oz, and Giles in an unoccupied corner of the room. "Sorry this had become more of a 'make as much noise as possible' party, instead of celebrating the wedding," she said to Oz and Willow.

"It's okay, Winry," Oz replied, with a smirk, "Besides, all ya gotta do is take that wrench of yours, and bash 'em all over the head."

"Beware of Winry's wrench," Willow advised, in a mock serious tone.

Giles, whom had no clue what they were talking about, simply shook his head, "Buffy, I should warn you, you'll have to start patrolling again tomorrow night, and I think you should take Faith, and Jory with you."

"Huh, why?" Buffy asked, confused, "Though you said I could take a few days off, leave patrolling to Faith and the newbies?"

"Ohhhhh!" Willow exclaimed, "Is this something to do with those rapes? I'm glad me and Oz are leaving tonight... I don't wanna have to deal with that right after our wedding."

"Rapes? What rapes? Why is that slayer business?" Buffy inquired.

"Didn't you hear, pet," Spike's voice came from behind her, as he joined their circle, "Couple o' women turned up dead, few days back... Raped an' murdered... I don't get why you want her t' investigate it though, Rupes."

"Because, I think it's the work of a Minotaur," Giles replied simply, making Oz, Willow, and Spike all stare at him for a moment as if he were crazy. Buffy was just trying to remember what a minotaur was... Half man half bull right? Said to prey on women...

"Giles... Those're just myths..." Oz reminded him, "...Right?"

"Th' furball's right, " Spike agreed, "Haven't been minotaur attacks in centuries... An' there's considerable doubt tha' there ever were any." Willow nodded vigorously in agreement.

"What makes you think this is the work of a Mino-thingy and not just some perv?" Buffy wanted to know, before they got into a debate about what was real and what wasn't.

"Because," Giles replied, cleaning his glasses, "the women weren't just raped, they were torn apart, with inhuman force... I thought vampires at first, but there's no evidence to suggest that's what it was. There were no neck wounds, and the bite marks on the victims weren't from vampire teeth."

Willow shuddered, "Now I'm really glad we're leaving..."

"You found all this out how?" Xander interrupted, shoving his too-large pirate hat out of his eyes.

"Willow is not the only hacker in our little group," Giles replied, "I wanted to find out the details of the murders so I had Nancy get the autopsy and police reports."

"I still think you're chasing a myth," Oz stated, solemnly.

"Myth, what myth?" Xander asked, "Aren't we always chasing myths? Seriously... Vampires, incorporeal beings bent on destroying the world..."

'The alfalfa demon," Buffy pointed out.

"Acathla," Giles corrected, though he didn't sound as if he really meant it. He'd long since learned to not count on Buffy remembering demon names.

--------------------

Buffy came out of the bathroom, just as Spike entered the bedroom. She gave him a small smile, heading for the bed. He started to return the smile, but then his expression changed. He cocked his head at her, as if listening to something, and looked at her as if she were an alien creature. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, then gave the tiniest shake of his head, closed his mouth, and his odd expression was replaced with a smirk, as if he knew something that Buffy didn't. Puzzled, but knowing she wouldn't get an answer from him, Buffy let it go, and decided she'd ask him some other time, when she could cheat to get the information from him.

She crawled into bed, thinking about what a hectic day it'd been. But it'd been a good day, at least. Willow had worked a teleporation spell, earlier, and she and Oz had left. Where they'd gone was a mystery to everyone, even Oz, as Willow had said she wanted to surprise her husband. Buffy hoped he'd liked the surprise. With a smile, she flopped back on her pillows as Spike got into bed, next to her. Tomorrow she had demons to track down. Tonight she could relax... Well, okay so there wouldn't be much relaxing until later, when she was too exhausted to do anything else... But either way. she could enjoy tonight.

--------------------

Xander drummed his fingers on the dining room table impatiently. He was waiting for AnnMarie to come down from her room, so he could ask her out. Buffy was going to be patrolling with several other slayers, so he wouldn't be needed, and Giles didn't torture the watchers-in-training with lessons on weekends. Something Summer often complained about, saying that it was taking long enough to teach them everything they needed to know, without taking breaks. Personally, Xander agreed with her. It was taking too long.

But that was the price of wanting them all to know ancient dialects, witchcraft, various demons -and the best method of killing them-, as well as how to identify certain rituals that a big bad might be performing simply by what materials they were after. Over a year, and they still weren't done with the training. There were a few, of course who had once been watchers, though they had lost the potentials they were supposed to train. One of them had gone to Cleveland to act as watcher for Vi, and Gisselle, the other had been assigned to two of the older slayers from the second batch, the twins, Joline and Josephine. They were in New York.

Vi and Gisselle had gone on to Cleveland, not quite two years before, after eight new slayers had been murdered.Three of which had been potentials in Sunnydale. Rona, Michelle, and Kennedy. Their murderer? Angelus, being controlled by the First, who was hungry for a little revenge, after they kicked its incorporeal ass down in the hellmouth. Buffy had kicked its decidedly more corporeal ass again, while it was Angel. That had been a fun thing to see. Not so fun had been when he'd taken the remaining girls home, to see the blood that remained everywhere. Buffy'd had the dead girls buried, sure, but there hadn't been time to clean up the blood... So that had certainly been a nightmare to come home too...

Ah! There was AnnMarie.

"Morning, Xander," said the brunette, groggily, "Any coffee ready?"

"Um yeah... in the kitchen," Xander replied. As she headed for the kitchen- and the coffee- Xander followed, trying to work out what he was gonna say.

"You want some," AnnMarie offered, holding up the pot.

Xander shook his head, "No thanks... Hey, AnnMarie... I was wondering if you'd like to go to dinner with me this evening..."

"You mean on a date?" AnnMarie stated simply, "Sure, why not."

"Good... great... Um, you're not, like a demon or anything are you, 'cause I have a bad track record when it comes to my taste in women."

AnnMarie chuckled, "No, not a demon. But I practice witchcraft. Does that count?"

"Hey, I gotta have a girl with some abnormalities," Xander replied with a shrug, feeling very relieved. after all, he'd gotten the question out quickly, and she'd accepted, with no fuss or anything like that. Rather simple actually. It was a great change from the way his life normally was. She wasn't Anya, and would never take Anya's place... But he'd accepted Anya's death, and had moved on. Time to get back into the world of dating.

He re-entered the dining room, a goofy grin on his face. He noted Spike sitting at the table, alone, smoking, "Where's Buffy?" he asked, since the pair was practically attatched at the hip.

"She's upstairs, pukin' her soddin' guts out," Spike replied, with the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice, "She'll be down shor'ly."

Wait... Why was he amused? Buffy had gotten the flu a few months ago, and he'd been worried out of his mind... He'd driven everyone else insane too.

"And you're happy about this why?" Xander couldn't resist asking.

Before Spike could answer, Buffy stumbled into the room, rubbing her neck. Xander noted two small holes there, which meant he hadn't imagined the noises he'd heard. This thought brought some rather disturbing images into his head that he tried desperately to banish. "Morning Buff," he said to the slightly green slayer, "Got a bug?"

"I guess..." she replied, "Where's Giles? I got a dream to tell him about."

-------------------

Buffy, Faith, Jory. and Crys were patrolling for the demon behind the rapes and murders. Buffy was with Jory, Faith was with Crys. So far they hadn't found anything, and Buffy was feeling rotten again. She looked at her watch. Midnight. Maybe it was time to get home, and enjoy a little bit of sleep, then help Giles and the mini-watchers with research. She'd had a dream the night before...

_The house was dark, dank, and certainly uncared for. There were collapsed roofbeams, and holes in the walls. From the back came a weird chanting sound... Sounded like French, actually. There was also the sound of a baby crying. Feeling as though she were being pulled to the back of the place, Buffy carefully made her way through the rubble. The back room had been cleared out, and an altar had been set up in the center. There was a hole in the ceiling that the moon could be seen clearly through, marking the time as midnight. There was a group of ten or so people around the alter, all in black robes, with werid symbols on them. One of them had a different symbol, and slightly more elaborate robes. He had to be the leader._

_On the altar was a naked, and very upset baby girl. Buffy stepped closer to the altar, and passed right through one of the robe-wearers. They continued their chanting as if they didn't now she was there. The baby, however, did notice her. She stopped crying, in an instant, and looked up at the slayer, with bright blue-green eyes. There was something familiar about those eyes. Something familiar about the spark of attitude, and mischeif in those teal eyes._

_Storie._

_The name came to Buffy all of a sudden, as if she'd already known the name. And she realized she had, and that Storie was in fact this little girl's name. How had she known that? Oh well, didn't matter now, the robed ones seem to have realized she was there... Time to run like hell. But as one took a swing at her, his arm passed right through her! Oh boy... She could run without fear of getting hurt... But what about the girl? She tried to pick the child up, but like everything else, she passed right through the baby, and the altar. Man it sucks to be incorporeal. As she ran she heard one of the robies shout something in french,_

_"La fleur de la mort vous détruira!"_

After that she'd woken up. She'd described to Giles the ritual she'd seen. she'd drawn the symbols for him, and told him what the leader robe-man had shouted, and he'd gone into major research mode. She'd left out the part about knowing the girl's name, and that she had seemed familiar. After all... None of that was important...

Was it?

"Hey Buffy!," Jory called, from a little ways ahead, "I think I heard something!"

That was when the screams began.

------------------

"C'mon, Crys!" Faith called, "Let's find B, and get outta here. I'm tired, and hungry."

"Just a little longer, Faith," Crys replied, "I think we may find something, if we keep searching..."

"Hey, you're still a wannabe, so _I'm_ in charge tonight, and I say we find Buffy, and leave."

"I'll have you know I would be on another hellmouth right now, if I had a partner, and if my brother wasn't so attatched to Dawn," Crys retorted. She turned towards Faith, about to say something else, but she froze, instead, mouth gaping open, trying to get sound out. She was doing a rather impressive imitation of a fish, in Faith's opinion. "H-hey Faith... Wadda ya say we go ahead and leave..."

Faith turned to see what had her spooked, and felt the color drain from her face. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me!" she muttered to herself, looking the creature up and down.

It was tall, at least eight feet, and covered in course black fur. As for how wide, take Arnold Schwartzanegger, and multiply him by four or five. In other words, he was huge. The lower half was that of a bull's, and it was quite obviously male. The hooves on the end of the fur-covered legs were both as big around as large plates, and coated in dried blood. His hands were larger than Faith's head, and his thick fingers looked like the were capable of crushing just about anything. The head was that of a bull, as well. The horns had been sharpened to a point, green saliva dripped to the ground from his mouth in thick, slimy globs, and snot, and blood, dripped from his nose. The source of the blood was obvious; a two-inch thick brass ring, with a chain dangling from it. The flesh around the ring was torn, and raw. He'd most likely escaped.The fact that the creature was indeed male was only made more obvious when he set eyes on Faith and Crys.

_One time I'm not glad to have a male looking my way, _Crys thought, noting the latter. Faith was backing away from the minotaur, very slowly. Crys didn't know what to do. She'd always assumed these creatures were nothing more than myths... Though in some myths they were highly intelligent, in some, they were dumb as a stump, and in others, the stump beat them in the intelligence department with flying colors... So which to believe? Were they smart, or were they incredibly stupid? _Man I wish Giles had found more than the usual myths on them..._

The creature studied the women for a moment, then let out a strangled, gutteral cry, and began to advance on them. Both Crys and Faith had no desire to fight such a large creature, in a place where the was so little room to move around it. There was a parking lot ahead, that would be the ideal place to fight... If they could get there, for now the thing was picking up speed, it's large horned block of a head lowered. Those horns might not have been enough to kill them, but it'd certainly be enough immobolize them while it tore them apart... And other, worse, things.

-----------------

Buffy and Jory hauled ass to an alley behind the town's only truly nice restaraunt- already long since closed by now-, to find a creature much like the one Faith and Crys had seen, save for it had the coloring of a holstien cow- white, with black splotches-, instead of being black. There were three men standing a ways away, all three holding on to a thick chain. that seemed to be attatched to a thick ring in the creature's nose. The creature had a young, and rather tiny woman pinned against a garbage bin. He was doubled over, and had his large teeth sunk into the woman's shoulder. She appeared to be unconscious, which Buffy felt was probably lucky for her, as the, well, minotaur, was thrusting into her, with what looked to be crushing force. The woman's clothes had been shredded, and thrown to the ground, soaked in blood. Buffy was frozen on the spot, wishing that Giles had been wrong about what had been raping and killing women. Seeing the event before her was bringing back one of her worst memories...

_She slammed into the tub, this combined with her previous injury rendered her helpless... Spike's hands were tearing at her robe, trying to rip it from her body. She was screaming at him, and he was muttering something she couldn't understand..._

"Ne le laissez pas tuer celui-ci! Nous avons besoin d'un métis!" shouted one of the robed men, giving the chain a yank. The voice brought Buffy out of the past.

"Oui," said the second, "nous avons moins qu'une année jusqu'à l'éclipse, nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre un autre échec!"

All three yanked on the chain at once, and the minotaur was forced to drop his victim. "Saisissez la fille," said the third man, who seemed to be in charge, "Si elle a conçu, nous saurons bientôt."

With the leader, and the second robie tugging the creature away, the third went for the fallen woman. This forced both Buffy and Jory into action though Buffy before Jory. The redhead knew a bit of french, and what she was able to make out wasn't very comforting.

"I have no idea what you freaks are saying," said Buffy, stepping into the light of a street lamp, making the men stop, "But it's probably the same old bullshit about world destruction as I've heard every other big bad say." She looked towards the one who was going for the woman, "Hey! Leave her, and pick on someone your own size."

The man froze, staring at her. The other two did as well. The monster completely ignored her, and was instead pulling at his chain to get to Jory. Why were these men staring at her as though she were some sort of alien? Unnerved, Buffy advanced on them, and their pet. The two holding the beast back dropped the chain, and called to the third.

"Laissez la femme," shouted the leader, "Obtiendrons nous ce que nous voulons!"

With a flash of light, they vanished, leaving only Buffy, Jory, the injured woman, and the monster. Hesitating for a moment, both Buffy and Jory advanced. After a few moments it became clear that this followed its blood, and the blood certainly didn't rush in the direction of its brain. As it had before, it focused on Jory, and ignored Buffy, which gave the slayers the perfect advantage over it. Jory, being tiny, and being a cheerleader, made it easy for her to avoid the creatures attempts to grab her, and charge her. Buffy just had to find the right opprotunity to get her rather nasty dagger into the thing's head, which was proving slightly difficult.

There. There was her chance. He had his back to her, and was trying to reach underneath the garbage bin to get to Jory, who was hiding there. He didn't seem to be too bright, otherwise, he'd have just shoved it out of the way. Buffy took the chance, and ran for the thing. She had to stand on its back, however, to reach his head. Anyone without slayer strength wouldn't have been able to drive the blade into its thick skull. As it was, Buffy had a bit of trouble. With the knife firmly buried in his head, Buffy tried to make a leap for the ground, though it seemed like the thing wasn't quite ready to die yet. It grabbed her arm with bone-crushing force as it dropped to the ground, thrashing and convulsing. It threw Buffy against the wall like a rag doll. The breath was knocked from her, though thankfully she didn't feel any bones snap. Her arm was already starting to bruise however.

Finally, the creature died, and Jory came out from under the bin. "That was fun..." she said sarcastically, "but next time, you play the damsel in distress... I don't like hiding."

Buffy was ignoring her, however, and looking at the still unconscious victim of the now dead minotaur. The bites on her shoulders and breasts were bleeding profusely, as was the torn skin on, and between her thighs. She couldn't have been more than twenty-five, at the most. Her breathing at least was normal. Buffy pulled off her coat, and gently put it on the woman, buttoning the front. She had to be taken to the hospital, now. Before Buffy could pick her up, however, came the sound of another voice.

"Ma'am, please step away from the body... We'll take it from here."

She knew the voice. She turned to look at the speaker. He gaped, when he saw her face. "Buffy? Buffy what are you doing-"

She cut him off, "Hello to you too, Riley."

-----------------------

Translation for the things in french will come next chapter.. though if you speak french, you'll already know what it is... I should warn you, I was using a translator for that, but I dunno if it's accurate... It should be... (I don't know much in french except what probly everyone else knows...)

if you'd like to see the costumes that were mentioned:

Buffy: do a google image search for FullMetal Alchemist, Winry Rockbell

Dawn and Eason: google image search for Spirited Away, Chihiro and Haku

Jory: google image search for Resident Evil 0, Rebecca Chambers


	3. Old Friends

this chap I have mixed feelings on... I much prefer the next one, but I kinda can't skip this'n...

CHAPTER TWO: Old Friends

"Riley we have to get this woman to a hospital," Buffy commanded, as several soldiers took her wounded charge. Jory was remaining quite. She was quite confused by all of this.

"We have medical facilities set up at our camp," assured Sam, Riley's wife. "She'll get better care there than she could at the hospital here, anyway." That was probably true...

"HEY! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME! I SAID LET GO YOU TIN SOLDIER BASTARD!" The shouts were coming from to the left. Buffy, Sam, Jory and Riley all turned to see Faith, and Crys being dragged towards them, and the military vehicles that waited near by. It was Faith who was shouting.

"They attacked us sir," said the soldier holding Crys, to Riley, "Prevented us from getting the creature before it returned to its master."

"We were _trying _to kill the fucker!" said Faith, looking as though she were about to put her slayer strength to use, and get away, "Before these lackwits tried to shoot Crys. _They _let it get away."

"Let them go," Buffy ordered, "They're with me."

The soldiers hesitated a moment too long. Crys was less patient than Faith was. She easily broke free of the soldier's grip, and twisted his arm around, until there came the unsettling popping sound of bones coming out of their sockets. Riley was too perplexed to do anything, as was Sam. The man holding Faith suddenly let go, as if out of fear of the same fate. The man with the now dislocated bones was turning a strange shade of purple, as though holding back screams. Crys let him go, and dusted her hands on her jeans, "When a Slayer wants to be let go, you let her go, buddy."

Riley, still perplexed, looked at both Buffy and Faith, "Explain?"

"Long story," said Buffy, "We'll tell all on the way home, if you don't mind taking us."

Riley looked at his wife, then at the soldier who was being led away by a snickering doctor, (Buffy caught the comment of "third time you've been beaten by a girl. How's it feel?"), then back to Buffy, and the others. "Fine... Sam?"

"You know I'm coming," the brunette replied, "I've been hoping to see Willow again..."

"Oh," said Jory, "Willow's not here... She and Oz left last night. Their wedding was yesterday."

"Oz? I thought he left? "

"Another long story," said Faith, "Like Buffy said, she can tell all on the way home... Not me though... I've got a shower, and a man waiting a few blocks away... I'll be by tomorrow for an info update, B," with that, she walked off down the street, without a second glance back. Buffy shook her head. Faith was Faith.

--------------------

"God, love," said Spike, not even noticing Riley and Sam, who stood a few feet away. The first thing he'd seen had been the bruise which had formerly been her arm, as well was the bruises that covered her shoulders and back, "What th' bloody hell did you fight? A damn tank?" He was showing more concern for her injuries than normal... What was up?

Riley cleared his throat, and Spike abruptly looked his way, "Well, if it isn't Captain Cardboard... Ain't here to drive m' girl off again are you?"

"Down Spike," Buffy cut in, stopping any reply from Riley, "_Before _we go into the house, let me set few ground rules. There will be driving off, of any kind. There will be no fights, and you two will remain civil to one another, do I make myself clear?" Both nodded, looking at her reproachfully, "Otherwise, I'll stick you both in a room with the next minotaur I find, and let it have all kinds of fun with you."

Jory and Crys snickered, and Sam hid a smile behind one hand. At least Buffy still knew how to keep the men in line. The group entered the main hall of the mansion, and Riley whistled. "Wow... Nice place..."

"Isn't it though?" said a voice from the living room. Dawn. She crossed the distance between her and the group and hugged Riley tightly.

"God you've grown," said the soldier, as Dawn pulled away from him, and waved at his wife.

"Oh, Buffy," Dawn turned to her sister, "Giles says he found out what was up with your dream, and he wants to know if you found any beasties we need to research."

"Already on it," Buffy replied, motioning for her guests to follow her and the others to the library. She opened the library doors, and smiled a bit at both Riley and Sam's gasps when they saw the room. "Welcome to the research department of slayer central."

"Buffy!" said an excited Summer, "Guess what! We found out what your dream was about!"

"I know what it was about, " Buffy replied in a mock-serious tone, "It was about a french cult performing rituals with babies." She moved so the over-excited bookworm could see the visitors, "Summer, this is Riley and Samantha Finn. Riley, Sam, this is our resident mini-Giles, Summer. She's a slayer, but you wouldn't know it from looking at her."

Summer sniffed indignantly, "Just because I prefer research to mindless violence, doesn't mean I'm a 'mini-Giles'... Nice to meet both of you."

Giles soon joined them, "Buffy, there you are... It seems that we have a slight problem on our hands-.. Oh, Riley. Good lord, what are you doing here?"

"We're here, tracking the demons who've been killing women here... Buffy killed one, saved the latest victim. The other got away."

"Oh dear lord... There were two? They're desperate..."

"Okay, who's desperate?" Buffy interjected, curious, "Giles, you said you knew who was behind this."

Giles turned and headed for the second level of the library, digging through books, until he pulled out one that was several inches thick, and on the cover was the symbol the leader of the french guys'd had on his robes. "They're called La Fleur de la Mort," said Giles, "The Flower of Death."

Spike scoffed, "Those crackpots? I've heard of 'em... Old news, sorry chaps. I'll be outside if you find anythin' interestin'." He turned to leave the room, since he didn't like hearing information over again, unless it was hearing Buffy say she loved him. Speaking of which... He stopped near Buffy on his way out, leaned down, with a quick glare at Riley, and caught the slayer's lips in a kiss, that was originally intended to be a quick one. Both slayer, and not-vamp, however, seemed to both refuse to pull away from the other, and their lips stayed pressed together until Giles finally cleared his throat, making them remember where they were.

"I love you, Slayer," Spike growled, as though he hadn't heard Giles.

"Love you," Buffy replied.

Spike left without another word, earning a chuckle from Jory, a snicker from Crys, and a mumbled "next time get a room," from Summer. Riley was pointedly looking at the floor, and Sam wore an amused expression. Giles simply looked mildly annoyed. "Back to the cult bent on the destruction of the earth... They need a half-demon child, in order to perform a ritual that would bring about, not the end of the world, but the end of the human race... It would be a slow process, but it would, in fifty, sixty, maybe seventy years, have made the human race extinct. "

"Boy, some apocalypse," Jory muttered to herself.

Giles looked at her, "Do you want children, Jory Evans? Grandchildren? If they succeed in performing this ritual, then every newborn on earth would die, instantaneously, and any children born after would be dead. So yes, it would be a long while until the end of mankind, but I assure you it would be the end, never the less."

"So why the minotaurs?" Sam questioned.

"I know why... " Jory said, "I could understand what they were saying, those men, and I was able to fill in the blanks. The leader said not to let the minotaur kill the woman, that they needed a half-breed... Another agreed, saying there was less than a year until the eclipse... When they yanked the thing away from her, the leader said to take her, and that if she'd conceived, they'd know soon... When Buffy interrupted, he told the others to leave the woman, they'd get what they wanted..."

"So they have the things rape women, in hopes they'll get a child out of it, but the monsters are a little hard to control, and they kill all the women..." said Riley, "I don't get it... Why not vamp a baby... not that that idea is any more appealing, but it would make more sense..."

"Because," said Giles, "They need something that's alive... and if you look at it from a technical standpoint, a vampire isn't really a half-breed at all... It's a demon living in a human shell, but they're not truly merged... oh and Buffy, your dream? They said that the Flower of Death would destroy you."

"Yeah I had gathered that," Buffy replied, "and Flower of Death? How lame is that? I tell ya, these cults have really got to find better names. "

"You gotta admit, it sounds cool in french, though... But the D.A. is cooler." Dawn said from the back of the room. Everyone looked at her for a moment and she shrugged, "God do you people EVER read? D.A... Dumbledor's Army... Sheesh... Bunch of illiterate... I'm going to bed..." With no further ado she left, and Buffy was reminded of Corrine.

"Giles, is Cory in bed already?"

"Yes... I had Nancy put her to bed earlier... She was refusing to go to sleep until you got home, though. Even Spike didn't manage to get her to sleep."

"Cory?" Riley asked, confused.

"My daughter," Buffy replied, enjoying the look of shock on the soldier's face, "Adopted, of course... She's a slayer too. We found her when she was six. "

Both Riley and Sam's radio suddenly started emitting voices, "Agent R. Finn, Agent S. Finn... Second mark is secured. Repeat, second mark is secure. Return to base for orders." Riley sighed, "That's us... " he said.

"You have to leave?" Buffy asked, knowing the answer.

Riley nodded, "Yeah... There were only two of those things, so we've stopped 'em for now..."

"And this cult won't be able to find more of their little pets without us knowing, so no worries.." Sam reassured everyone in the room. "Tell Willow congratulations, would you?"

Buffy nodded, "Sure will."

"Hey listen," said Riley, "I'll send some help your way... mutual friends... I think they'd be a bit better equipped to handle a cult, than the trainees you've got here."

"Most likely," both Giles and Summer agreed.

Buffy watched as Riley and Sam left. She'd been hoping they'd be able to stay for awhile... even with all the slayers here, they still needed help, and who better than Riley Finn, and all his military buddies? After all, if they could track down the cult, they could just kill them off without worrying about it further. And furthermore... Mutual friends? Who was he talking about? But he was right... The trainees weren't ready for dealing with an apocalypse... Sure, she'd dealt with a few apocalypses, when she was their age, but she'd died. No guarantee these girls would. After all, none of them would have a very determined Xander doing CPR on them. The only ones she trusted to help her were Jory, Crys, and Summer. So, all the newbies were being left out of this crisis.

"I'm going to bed," Buffy told Giles, "I'll help hit the books tomorrow."

-----------------

Giles however wasn't going to wait for Buffy, before he and Summer started their research. Both Jory and Crys left soon after Buffy did. Jory, to her room, and Crys, to the dorm. As Giles read through his books, with Summer occasionally finding something in the others, he began to find details about the eclipse that the cult had been talking about. It only took place once every couple hundred years. _Come on, give me an exact date, dammit! _Giles thought, frustrated. He couldn't find anything other than that it would take place in a little less than a year, and that didn't do them much good. From what he could gather, the date was hidden somewhere in the book, by a code of some sort. That meant he'd have to get Eason and Dawn on it tomorrow... They were the top code-crackers in the place, when they could stop making moon eyes at one another for more than five minutes... If they kept up at that rate, there'd be another wedding being planned soon enough.

He continued to read, and found journal entries, near the end, that detailed on past attempts at the ritual... La Fleur de la Mort hadn't started using minotaurs until the last eclipse, apparently, when a half-breed had not been found. Also, they'd only retrieved a half-breed once, in all the years they'd been trying.. The child of a slayer. Said slayer had only foiled their attempts, shortly before dying. Curious about this, Giles headed for one of the many computers in the library. He may have preferred books, but he had to admit, the computers were faster, if you knew exactly what you were looking for, which he did.

He found the slayer, from four-hundred years before, in the scans of the watchers journals. She had been called at only twelve, and had died at eighteen. There was no record of her child, after her death, other than a vague mention of it needing to be dealt with. Giles, knowing the old watchers' council's way of speaking, knew 'dealt with' meant being killed. They always had taken extreme measures, to make sure everything fit perfectly into their views. Certainly, a half-demon child from a slayer wouldn't have fit into those views... even a normal child wouldn't have. It didn't name what demon, however, which more than slightly irked Giles. After all, they had to know what demons to be keeping a look-out for. _Damned journals... They never provide enough details when it's needed. _

He'd have to make sure all of his charges provided detailed journals, as the ones looking out for the other slayer teams were doing. Speaking of teams, he had a pair to send off, the next day. Annie, and Jane. The two had become fast friends, and were fully trained, by then, and ready to leave. He was sending them to Lokkett, Texas, a town with a high rate of paranormal activity. No hellmouth, demons just liked it. Kind of like L.A. Several times, there had been slayers-in-training who'd talked of wanting to go to Los Angeles, all of which had been told no. That was Angel's territory, and the slayers stayed away from it..

While Giles didn't agree with Angel, and his friends running an evil law firm, he had to admit, they were doing a good job there. But still, after the events several years before, and with the running of Wolfram and Hart, he felt it best if the slayers and watchers steered clear of L.A. Just in case. There hadn't been much contact with Angel, really, other than a few calls. Once to tell them of his taking over Wolfram and Hart, another to tell them of an impending apocalypse, and a third to say the apocalypse had been stopped. That had been six months ago. No word since, though, which probably meant that everything was normal, there.

But then, normal for Angel's group was probably about as normal as it was for the slayers... Monsters every day of the week, cults, world crisis. The list went on.

"Summer, I do believe it's time we turn in," Giles finally said, noting the yawns that the girl was trying to hide.

"C'mon, Giles," Summer replied, tucking her curly hair behind her ears, "Just a little more? I found more of their journals, and records."

"Tomorrow, Summer. The books aren't going anywhere."

She sighed, "Fine... But I'm getting up early."

------------------

Dawn lie awake in bed, unable to sleep. Sleep was something she got little of, lately. She had no idea why, she just had a bad feeling...Like something bad was going to happen, soon. Maybe feelings like that came from being a glowing ball of immortal mystical energy, for thousands of years. She wondered, briefly, what it had been like, since she had no memories, before becoming human. Even knowing she had only existed for a few years, she still had memories of nineteen years with her mother, and sister... It was a strange concept, to have the memories, yet to know it never happened. At least all of her memories of her new friends were real.

Sighing, Dawn rolled over on to her stomach, and tapped random beats on the wall, to entertain herself. If she hadn't been sure that Buffy'd still be awake, she might have gone to Eason's room. Not that her sister didn't know what was going on... It was Spike that worried Dawn, and if Buffy was awake, so was he, and he was the over-protective parent-type. She loved the bleached not-vamp to death, but damn, did he have to be so dratted paranoid?

There was that feeling again... that something bad was about to happen. Too bad she couldn't get exact times from these feelings.

But maybe she didn't have to, for right then came startled yells from down the hall. Dawn rolled over, threw back her covers, and ran from her room, to see just what the hell was happening. Xander was standing outside his room, as was AnnMarie, using what appeared to be Xander's comforter to cover herself. Were she not wondering what was going on, Dawn might have laughed at that one. Other people were coming out of their rooms, as well, and listening to the distinct sounds of a fight.

-------------------

Buffy had been lying in bed, minding her own business, trying to get to sleep. After all, she had to work later that morning. She'd gotten a job as the highschool councelor, in town, and tomorrow, Monday, she had to go back. Robin worked at the school, as well, though as a teacher, not as principal. And then, those french freaks'd had the audacity to just flash themselves into her room, (_hm, simple teleportation spells... you'd think they'd be a bit fancier.)_ , and start attacking her.

Poor Spike shot out of bed, like all hell was breaking loose, and maybe it was. What struck Buffy as odd was that they were trying to avoid hitting her. Oh, they hit Spike, with no hesitation, but not once did they hit her. Instead, they were trying to get ahold of her, and drag her to their leader, whom was staying firmly in the corner of the room, another teleportation spell, ready to be cast. It seemed as though they had prepared for someone to be with Buffy... If they had, they'd have bought more than three people, leader not included. Those three were handled rather easily, due much to fact that they weren't very skilled fighters. It was clear they generally used their pets for the dirty work. The leader, realizing he wasn't going to be joined on the way home, cast his spell, before Spike, or Buffy could get to him, and disappeared with a flash of light.

-------------------

Later that morning, once Giles had been dragged out of bed, and Faith and Robin had been convinced to get up early, and come join the rest of the scoobies, the group sat in the living room, discussing things. Eason and Dawn were in the library, trying to find a more exact date on the eclipse.

"I don't get it," Faith said, "You said they needed a half-breed _baby_?"- Spike visibly paled at that, but no one seemed to notice- "No offense, B, but why in the hell would they need you?"

"That's what confuses me," said Giles, "And the way that Jory said they reacted when Buffy saved that girl, is odd as well. Maybe they're just trying to prevent a repeat of the one time they actually aquired a child... A slayer stopped them. Maybe they've learned from past mistakes. "

"Wouldn't be the first time someone tried to get me out of the way," Buffy replied with a nod, feeling sick again. "But you'd think they'd do a bit of research, before just attacking... They were SO not ready for there to be two people beating their asses... But they didn't hit me. They tried to drag me off, but they didn't hit me, it was like they needed me, alive, and unhurt."

"I know why," said Spike, quietly. Everyone turned his way. His tone of voice worried Buffy. The expression on his face worried her even more. She didn't say anything, however, since he seemed to have something to say. He seemed to be chewing on the inside of his cheek, nervously. Spike nervous? This definitely wasn't good. When she finally got tired of waiting, Buffy spoke up.

"Well, why?"

Spike twitched at the sound of her voice, and looked at her, "It ain't you they're after, Buffy," he said, "It's th' Little Bit you're gonna have..."

------------------

Well, you all knew it was coming :p

Oh, and sorry for not having Riley around longer... But I think you all might enjoy the help he's gonna send, a bit more than Riley himself.


	4. The Help Arrives

allllll righty then! (sorry too many Jim Carrey movies lately...)

There shall be no more updates till monday, since weekends are depressingly low on the amount of people who read the updates... Anyway how ya enjoy this one.

CHAPTER THREE: The Help Arrives

Spike's words hit Buffy like ton of bricks. Did he mean what she thought he meant? He couldn't... could he? Slayers didn't have children. No, that wasn't true. Robin was the son of one of the two slayers Spike had killed, Nikki. Okay, so _Buffy_ didn't have children. Again, not true. She'd adopted Cory...

And all while she was thinking this, she was doing a great impression of a fish.

"'bout two months along, I'd reckon," Spike finished.

"You knew," Buffy finally said, "You knew and you didn't say anything... you said you knew about this cult!" She was beyond angry.

"I did! But I didn't know they needed a child... I figured any damn half-breed would do... An' I didn't bloody well expect them t' know you were pregnant!"

The others remained silent, partially out of shock, and partially out of a reluctance to feel the wrath of either the slayer or the vampire. "But what about me, William!" and there was the real name... that generally meant she was exceptionally pissed, or trying to get her way, "What about me?You could have said something to me... This is my life, here, and you didn't say anything..."

Spike looked properly ashamed of himself, "I'm sorry, Buff... I'm sorry."

There was an uncomfortable silence, for several minutes, before Buffy finally whispered, "She was mine...Her eyes... I should have known..."

"Known what?" Giles asked, his mind still trying to process this new information

"The girl, in that dream... She was mine. I recognized her eyes... " She looked at Spike, "except for color, they could have been yours... Had the same spark of trouble. I knew her name, too. Storie..." She crossed her arms over her stomach, "Giles, will that dream come true?"

"Well, I-I... I'm not-," Giles started.

"Will th' bloody dream come true, or will it not," Spike interrupted, impatiently.

"I don't know, " Giles replied, "I'm sorry, both of you, but I just don't know... And if it does, we're going to have more to worry about than the girl. Alot more."

"The hell we are," Buffy replied, sharply, remembering the way she'd felt, looking at that baby in her dream. Before any other replies could be made, Eason and Dawn interrupted, by charging into the room, triumphant smiles on their faces.

"We figured it out!" Dawn said, proudly, not noticing the grim looks around her. Eason, always perceptive, noticed right away, and said, "Who died?"

Giles just shook his head, "When is the eclipse?"

Eason looked at the notes he held in his hands, "If our calculations are correct, then in about seven months...so, May sometime..."

Buffy did the math in her head. If Spike was right, and she was two months along, then... _Then this thing will happen just in time for the baby to be born. For my- our- little girl to be born... Shit. _With that thought, she rose abruptly from the couch, with a muttered excuse of having to go to work, and headed upstairs in a hurry. Spike hesitated a moment, then followed her, calling her.

"What's up with her?" Dawn asked, flopping down on the couch, in Buffy's vacated spot.

"She's just upset," Giles said, in a tone that made it clear he was avoiding the topic.

Faith gave him a look that said he needed to tell the girl the truth, and said, "She just found out she's gonna be a mom, kid."

"Wait..." said Dawn, frowning in concern, "That means that those guys were after-"

"Hence why she's upset," Robin interrupted.

---------------

Buffy was distracted all day, at work. Thankfully, she wasn't having many people in that day, so she was free to rest her chin on her hands, propped up on her desk, with her elbows, and stare off into space. Things were going to change, that was for damn sure. She wasn't quite sure she could deal with this. An evil cult bent on world destruction was nothing new. Being pregnant was, of course, but also manageable. But being pregnant, and having said evil cult wanting to use the baby for a ritual that would eventually lead to the extinction of humans? That was something new all together, and she wasn't sure she could handle it.

Was she scared?

No...

More like terrified. There was alot of difference between adopting a child, and having one of your own, she knew that...

She hadn't said a word to Spike, when he'd followed her upstairs. She'd not only been angry, and upset, but quite frankly, afraid. She wondered, briefly, if she hadn't had that dream, would she have suddenly felt such a strong urge to protect the life within her? But then she realized, yes, she would have. The urge was just made stronger by the dream. She sighed, remembering the dream, and the little girl's perfect, pale skin, and her blue-green eyes, a perfect blending of her parents'. Buffy hadn't lied when she'd said that, save for color, they could have been Spike's. The little hint of mischief, and attitude were unmistakable.

She couldn't, wouldn't, let this cult get hold of the baby.

Buffy sighed again, "Fuck it all," she mumbled to herself, running her hands through her hair. She remembered what Giles had said. That if the cult succeeded, they'd have more to worry about than the girl. Frankly, Buffy had meant what she'd said to that. To hell with the world. _And_, she thought, remembering when Giles had wanted her to kill Dawn, to save the world,_ if he thinks I'll hurt her _-(the dream had her convinced it was a girl)- _to hell with him too._ The slayer rested her head on her desk, determined to get at least a bit of sleep. She was wishing her mother was there. She'd have known what to do, and wouldn't have clouded Buffy's thoughts, with lectures on the importance of her job as the slayer.. that she had to put the world before her personal interests. Well, to hell with that too. She wasn't the only slayer anymore, and she had earned the right to be a bit selfish.

Hmm, two years with Spike, and he was finally starting to rub off on her. He'd said something similiar to her, about being a bit selfish.

All threats aside, what were they going to do? She and Spike had enough troubles with Cory... But then, she hadn't been with them, until two years previously, plus, she was a slayer... That seemed to automatically make her have a stubborn, disobedient streak. But aside from that, at least she didn't have to worry about who was going to patrol. There were twenty other candidates for that. Though Buffy knew she'd go nuts, not being able to patrol, or fight baddies in general. That was her life. Wouldn't be for much longer, though. She knew that. But could she deal with it? Well, she'd find out.

She looked at the phone, considering calling Spike, and apologizing for rushing off earlier, but thought better of it. Let him worry that she'd never speak to him again for just a while longer. She had to admit the perverse pleasure she'd get later, as he babbled on about how sorry he was. Of course, she wouldn't let him carry on for too long. Had to let him keep some dignity. And the look on his face whenever she forgave him for something, before he finished explaining himself was always amusing.

Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. Of course, they'd get worse, later on, Buffy was sure, but for now, they weren't as bad as they seemed.

------------------

Xander couldn't believe his ears. He'd missed the scooby meeting earlier, and now he was wishing he hadn't. Buffy pregnant? The cult after the baby? These were things you didn't hear often in slayer central... And frankly, not good things either. He didn't know why he didn't go in, and join the discussion, but he didn't. He just kept listening, outside the door.

"So is this kid really gonna be half demon?" that was Faith.

"Have you forgotten wha' I am?" Spike, of course, and he sounded annoyed, "I may not be a vampire, anymore, but m'sure as hell not human."

"Times like this you _really _wish Willow hadn't mucked up that spell," someone else muttered... That had to be Crys. There was a moment of silence, in which Xander was sure that the japanese-american girl was getting very strange looks, "Well it's true! If Spike were human, or hell, even still a full vampire, we wouldn't be having this discussion right now!"

"Tell Red that when she gets back," Spike suggested. Xander could practically hear the sneer, "I'm sure she'll be real glad t' hear it."

"As much as I hate to say it, Crys," said Giles, "Spike is right... I wouldn't suggest you repeat that to Willow. Besides, this is not her fault. If anyone's to blame, it's Spike and Buffy."

"Now hold on there, Rupes!" the sound of scraping wood meant Spike had stood abruptly.

"Like it or not, Spike, the fact that Buffy is pregnant is because of both of your extreme lack of responsibility."

"Say that to Buffy," Dawn put in, "Guarantee you wouldn't like the result... Besides, think about it. Hundred plus years of being a vampire, as compared to two years being almost human... Old habits are kinda hard to break."

"Kid's right," said Faith, then added, after a brief pause, "Lucky this didn't happen sooner."

Xander knew the beginnings of an argument when he heard them, so now was a good time to intervene. "Whoah, whoah, hold it guys, " he said, opening the door, and stepping into the room, "Stop the blame game and stay in your seats. Now, from what I've heard from listening in, we've got a while to work this out, so maybe we should deal with it when Buffy gets home." He looked at Robin, "Aren't you supposed to be at the school?"

"I called in, when I heard Buffy had been attacked," Robin replied with a shrug, "I didn't know she was going to run off and go to work anyway, without working everything out."

After several minutes, Dawn sighed, "Can't believe I'm actually gonna be an aunt," she suddenly grinned, "You guys should cheer up. This would be good news, if there weren't crazy french guys set on destroying mankind. 'Specially you, Spike. You're gonna be a dad."

"The knowledge hadn't escaped me, Nibblet." Spike replied.

Dawn just shook her head, and muttered something, that was probably an insult, got up, kissed Eason- whilst inwardly smiling at the way Spike glared- and left the room.

"That girl can find something good in any situation," Xander observed, with a shake of his head.

-----------------

Jory sat with AnnMarie, and Xander, as they talked about their date from the night before. While Jory hadn't known Xander's ex, Anya, she'd been told about her, and even she could tell the resemblances to her, in the Watcher. Xander obviously could too. She knew Buffy'd probably kill her, and Crys later, for skipping school, but they'd gotten caught up in the discussion, and had forgotten school altogether. Buffy had made her excuse about going to work, an hour early.

She heard the front door open, and footsteps heading for the library, where she was. The door opened, and Jory leaned back in her chair, to see who'd arrived. There was Nancy. Tall, dark brown hair, and dark skin (half african-american, half hispanic), and chocolate brown eyes. She wasn't one of Jory's best friends, but they got along all right. It was the person behind Nancy whom Jory wanted a better look at. She leaned a bit farther back in her chair. There he was. Jonathan Burns. Watcher in training, and Jory's current crush. Medium length black hair, dark eyes, tanned sk- CRASH! She leaned back a bit to far, and found, as she often teased Xander for doing, that gravity works rather well.

Both Nancy and Jonathan suddenly looked her way, and Jory picked herself up, grumbling. She ignored the snicker she got from Summer, as she entered the room. If those three were there, that meant that school was out, and now it was time to get on with training. Oh joy. At least Jory didn't have to do the constant training that most of the others did. She waved to Nancy and Jonathan, as well as several other girls, as they made their way to the training rooms. The watchers were staying in the library. Summer and Giles' classroom of choice.

Knowing if she didn't leave soon, she'd get caught up in a lecture on demons, and demon languages, Jory quickly made her escape, hoping she could also hide from Buffy for a while.

----------------

Buffy was walking home. It was a long way, but she was used to it. She walked home every day, no matter the weather, which, today, was abnormally sunny. The girls took the bus home, Robin drove home, Buffy walked. It gave her time to think, and time to wind down, from a day of dealing with troubled teens, and prepare herself for dealing with plain troublesome teens. As she walked through the curtain of willow trees, hands stuffed in her pockets, she heard someone call her, and looked up. Cory was heading to her, black braids bouncing. When the girl reached her, she hugged her.

"Nice to see you too, Kiddo," said Buffy, wondering what this was about.

"Dawnie says I'm gonna have a new baby sister," the child replied, and Buffy realized what the attention was for, "That true?"

"Yeah it is, honey," Buffy replied, wondering if Cory was going to be the jealous sibling type.

She seemed to think it over for a moment, "Good," the girl finally said, "What's her name gonna be?"

Buffy couldn't help but laugh, "I don't know yet, Cory, that's for later." But she did know the name. She'd known her daughter's name before she'd known she was pregnant. Storie. An odd name, sure, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the oddness of it. Liked the way it sounded. She resumed her walk up to the house, Cory running ahead of her. when she reached the deck, she noticed Jory and Crys trying to stay out of her line of sight. "You two are in deep shit later," Buffy said idly, "You skipped school." She heard them groan, and she smirked. At least she didn't have to worry about not being able to handle being a mom. She'd been one since her own mother died, and she'd started taking care of Dawn. Of course, now she could no longer take care of Dawn. Her little sister was beyond the age of needing cared for, which was kinda sad actually.

As Buffy entered the house, she saw Spike lingering nervously near the stairs, and wiped the smile from her face. If she wanted to be properly amused by his needless apologies, then she had to appear dead serious. Though that might prove to be easier said than done, since she was suddenly getting the uncontrollable urge to laugh, and cry at the same time. Laugh, because he was looking like a frightened puppy, and cry, because seeing him drove home the fact that she was pregnant. Really forced it to sink in. And it made her wonder. What if? What if next time the frenchies got her? No! No, bad Buffy, no pessimistic thoughts. It would be months before they could do anything anyway. Besides... They had a long while to sniff out this cult, and kill them all, before they could blink... so that was turning a frown upside down.

As soon as they were in the house, Cory left Buffy's side, and skipped off, to go do whatever it was she did, when she sensed that she wasn't currently wanted, in a room. She had gotten good at guessing when she was about to be asked to go play, or something, as long as it was away from there. Buffy stepped towards Spike, whom immediately started his apology.

"I'm sorry, for not telling you, Buffy," he started, "If I had known what the big bad wanted, I would have and I-"

Buffy stopped him by grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling him down, and kissing him. Spike stiffened in shock for a moment, before relaxing and wrapping his arms around her. This was much better than listening to apologies. She felt his tongue on her lips, and parted them to let him in. Definitely much better than listening to apologies.

"Say," said Crys, to Summer, as she was about to enter the library, "Don't they need to breathe?"

"One of 'em's gonna pass out soon," Eason put in, with a chuckle, "Any bets on who?"

"Gambling, sweetie?" Dawn interrupted, "Never a good idea."

"If you believe in all that christian mumbo-jumbo," said Summer, whom had stated on many occasions, if there was a God, she didn't really care, "then it's a sin."

"Yes, but you see, most of us here don't," Eason informed her, "So, it doesn't really matter. "

Meanwhile, Buffy and Spike still hadn't separated. "Damn, they've got some good sets of lungs on 'em," Crys commented, dryly, "Almost as good as you and Dawn, Eason." This earned her a glare from both of the latter.

"Least I _have _a boyfriend," Dawn retorted.

From the library, Giles called them, "All of you, get back in here! You have lessons to complete!"

Before any of them could complain, there was a rather loud bang from the library, that made Spike and Buffy separate in a split second. The band was was followed by a cloud of smoke, that filtered out into the hall. There were shouts, from the people still in the library, and a few shouts of "what the hell?" and "Alright, who's performing spells!" Buffy peered into the room, trying to see through the thick white smoke, and only succeeded in coughing. When the smoke started to clear a bit, she could make out four figures, standing on the table in the middle of the room. Three of the four she recognized, the last, she didn't. It was two men, and two women,

The frontmost woman was coughing, and waving her hand in front of her face, trying to get some clear air to breath. "Dammit, Wesley!" said Cordelia Chase, "You used too much demon bone, again!"

------------------

I feel I should warn you... I am going to be taking extreme liberties with the Angel plot... I know that Both Cordy and Fred should both be dead at this point in time, but I promised my sister I would have them here... Besides... I liked Fred, she was cool. I was pissed when they killed her... And I only got to see a couple of episodes (I guess it's true that everyone loves Fred) I also thought it was pretty shitty that she and Wes had just gotten together, and then they just HAD to kill her... Kinda makes ya hate Joss Whedon... any time a couple starts gettin happy, one of 'em dies, or it gets screwed up...

Now, a few bits might be out of character for Fred, Wes, and Cordy, since I only saw a few eps of Angel, and as for making references to things that have happened in the past, I can only rely on my sister's memory of things to be accurate, should I need information.


	5. Pointless

Alright, here's chapter 4... though technically speaking, it's 5...

And I'm not going to provide translations to the french parts in this, as none of them are crucial to the plot. Should there be parts that ARE crucial, they will be translated by the characters..

However if you would like to know, simply ask, and I'll tell ya.

CHAPTER FOUR: Pointless

"Me!?" Wesley replied, "Who was it who claimed I didn't use enough, when performing mass transportations?

"I didn't tell you to use as much as you did," she looked at the second man, "Did I, Angel?"

"Guys," said the mousy second woman, "You realize we're here, right?"

Cordelia looked towards the door, and spotted Buffy. Looking at what she was standing on, she said, "You couldn't have put this table somewhere else, other that right on the hellmouth?"

"Nice to see you too, Cordelia," Buffy replied, dryly. She smiled at Wesley, "Hey Wes," her gaze fell upon Angel, "Angel," she said with a quick nod. She didn't know the fourth.

The quartet hopped off the table, as more of the house-dwellers (those being the ones that lived in the mansion, not the dorm), began to make their way in, to find out what had gone on. "I apologize for the smoke, and the noise, but I haven't quite perfected teleporting more than one person, yet," said Wes, looking rather sheepish. He was far different from the clean-cut, stuck-up watcher than Buffy had known in highschool. He didn't have his glasses anymore, and there was a serious lack of tweed. Also, he wasn't clean-shaven, as he had always been when Buffy'd known him, _I'll be damned. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce has grown up._ Cordelia was pretty much still Cordelia, save for a change of hair. Where Buffy remembered it being long, and straight, it was now short, and curly. Angel of course was the same as ever. The other woman was slender, somewhat short, and had long brunette hair... She practically screamed a nerd of some sort.

Seeing the nervous fidgeting from both the residents, and the newcomers, Buffy stepped into action. "Introductions, shall we? These are the newbies, Nancy Talos, Jory Evans, Crys Le, Tandy Speeler, Summer Braun," she pointed to each girl in turn, "The rest are in the dorms outside... The new watchers, Eason Le, Jonathan Burns, AnnMarie Cerna, my sister Dawn, and I think the rest of us you know," she looked down, when she felt a tug on her sleeve, "Oh, and Corrine Summers... Everyone, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, Cordelia Chase, Angel, and..." She stopped, not knowing the mousy woman's name.

"Winifred Burkle," she supplied, "But most call me Fred."

"Oh!" said Xander, "You're the one who called, when we were still dealing with The First... Willow went to LA, to get Faith, after that."

Fred nodded. "That was me. Where is Willow anyway?"

"She's on her honeymoon," said Giles, "But would you mind explaining just what you're doing?"

"Yes," Spike drawled, coming into view, "Some of us would like to know the answer to that."

"Spike?" said Wes and Cordy together. They had only known Spike as an evil vampire out to kill his third slayer. "What is he doing here?"

"He's got a soul," Angel answered, "Remember? I told you he was working with Buffy," he cocked his head to the side suddenly, and his eyes narrowed at Spike, "What are you?"

"Beg pardon?" Spike replied, "That's a rude question, Peaches."

"What do you mean 'what is he'?" Cordy asked, with a scoff, "He's a vampire."

"Am not," Spike retorted.

"Willow performed a spell, it went wrong, you get what he is now," Giles said quickly, "Now please, what are you doing here?"

"Riley contacted us, " said Angel, "Told us you could use some help. Said something about an evil cult."

-------------------

After long explanations from Angel's group, about how they knew Riley- apparently he had been tracking several demons through LA once, and had met them.. of course, he and Angel had met before, by way of many punches-, and how he'd contacted them to inform them that Buffy might need some help with an apocalypse. Of course, Riley hadn't known that Angel had killed eight of Buffy's charges, while under the influence of the First. Buffy had left that little detail out when telling Riley about what had been going on. In turn, Buffy explained to Cordy, Wes, and Fred about there being so many slayers, and what exactly Spike was, which was a whole new type of demon, altogether. Both Wesley and Fred seemed keen on finding out more about that, while Spike made it clear if they came near him, he'd bite them.

"Okay, so, evil cult after something to bring about the end of all humans..." said Fred, "That mean we go search for whatever it is they want, and beat them to it?"

"We, erm, we already have what they're after," said Giles, shifting uncomfortably.

"So we destroy it?"

"More like protect it with our lives," said Buffy.

"Wait, why?" Cordy asked, "Wasn't that always the rule in Sunnydale? Destroy the objects that could be harmful to humanity."

"They need a half-demon baby," said Dawn, from her spot on Eason's lap.

"Buffy?" Angel suddenly spoke, for what was only the second time since he'd told them Riley contacted him, "Yours, isn't it?"

Damn vampires and their enhanced hearing. Buffy nodded anyway. Seeing her nod, Wesley put on a very Giles-like look, only, having no glasses to clean, he settled for rubbing his face. "I'm guessing it gets the demon half from Spike?" he asked, not sounding as though he needed an answer. So, he didn't get one.

"So," said Angel, "The only option is to find them, and kill 'em."

"Pretty much," Jory replied, "which is fine by me."

Summer sniffed in disdain, "One of these days Jory Kaylin, " she said, earning a scathing look from Jory, at the use of her middle name, "You love of mindless violence is going to get you into trouble."

"I've survived," Spike said.

"Yes, my point exactly," Summer retorted.

-----------------

Patrol was odd, at best. Cordy seemed to have changed alot, and wasn't quite the stuck-up bitch that Buffy remembered, and Wesley? Wesley was so far from what she remembered, it was almost like meeting a new person. She liked Fred well enough. She'd been right, the woman was a nerd. She loved science, and vaguely reminded Buffy of Hermione Granger. Also, she seemed quite smitten with Wes, and vice versa. Shortly before they'd left, Buffy'd thought she caught sight of them underneath one of the willow trees, closer than any friends should have been. Being near Angel was... awkward. He didn't speak to her, unless he had to, and when he did, he avoided her gaze. But then, he avoided speaking to everyone else, as well, save for Fred, Wes, and Cordy. There seemed to be something between Angel and Cordy, as well, which really didn't surprise Buffy. She never would have believed it back in highschool though, with Cordy always flirting with him, and him ignoring her... Now, it seemed like it should have happened sooner.

The tension between Angel and Spike was, predictably, very very bad. Though Buffy was pleased to note that Spike didn't suddenly lose all confidence in the fact that she loved him, liked he once would have, when Angel was around. After he was assured that her curiousity wouldn't result in his being dissected, Spike actually got along well with Fred, though it seemed as though she were the type of person everyone loved. His opinion of Wes was only that as long as he stayed away from the tweed, he was an acceptable guy. Cordy he just stayed away from.

They were searching every inch of the city, in several groups. Buffy with Fred, Spike, and Wes. Faith with Cordy, Angel, and Xander. Giles with Summer, Jory, and Crys. Dawn with Eason, Tandy, and Nancy. So far, they hadn't found anything at all, and it was seriously annoying Buffy. But then, had she really expected to find anything? Really, if those guys could teleport, then they could have been anywhere... _Gotta hand it to 'em, as far as hiding goes... they pick a place to look for their target that's away from where they're actually set up. _Most the big bads she'd dealt with had the incredibly stupid habit of staging their attacks close to their home base. Now was a time when she wished she was dealing with some of the incredibly stupid baddies.

"Why is it, that when we come across a big bad who can cause major damage, they can never be dumb as a stump?" Buffy finally spat, after three long hours of searching, and not finding anything.

"Because they have to be at least somewhat intelligent to cause such damage," Wes replied, as if it were painfully obvious.

"I think Glory was an exception to that rule," said Spike, "whorish hellgod that she was, she had her dumb moments."

"Let's avoid the topic of Glory," Buffy told him, "Or have you forgotten, that was one apocalypse that resulted in my death?"

"Never, love."

"Death?" Fred questioned, "You died?" And there was that spark of curiousity again. Now Buffy knew what Spike had felt like when the woman had been keen on learning more about him...

"Twice, actually... Means I've got Spike beat, and I'm even with Angel... or has he died again since moving to LA?"

No answer was given, however, for a flash of light up ahead signaled the arrival of their foreign friends. They obviously hadn't been expecting company, for they seemed quite surprised to see Buffy and the others.

"Là elle est!" cried one.

"Idiot, nous ne pouvons pas la prendre maintenant!" said the other, with what Buffy was sure was disdain.

However, she didn't really care what they were saying, or the tones they were using. She wanted them dead, and now. "Shall we?" Spike commented, itching for a good fight.

"We shall," Buffy replied, with a smirk. These guys were SO dead. She signaled at Wes to hold off on the guns he was quickly pulling from his jacket. He could shoot them in a moment. First she needed to work off a bit of tension. What better way than violence? Fred, it turned out, wasn't much for the close combat. She stuck like glue to Wes' side, and simply watched the fight before her. She had to admit, it was entertaining. It didn't remain entertaining for long, however, for neither she, nor Wes, heard the third man approaching behind them. When she did, Fred turned to see who was there, and was rewarded with a heavy metal object connecting with her jaw.

Buffy had just knocked her opponent unconscious when she heard the gunshot. She spun around to see what was going on, and saw a third frenchie sinking to the ground, hands clutched to his throat, as blood poured over his fingers, and down the front of his robes. Wes was holding on to an unconscious Fred, whom already had the beginnings of a bruise across her lovely face. The source of the bruise was a lead pipe, that lay near by. _I guess Cordy wasn't kidding when she said Wes didn't take well to Fred being hurt..._ Cordelia had told her earlier that Wesley wasn't the ask questions first, then maybe shoot later, if he decided he could stomach the violence type... No... He was the shoot first, then, if he felt he'd made the bad guys hurt enough, maybe ask some questions. According to Cordy, he'd even shot someone he believed to be his father, when Fred's life had been threatened. Despite the fact that it hadn't really been his father, Buffy had to give him props for that... Even if her opinion on guns was still that they never worked. They seemed to have worked fine in this situation though, since the man who'd hit Fred was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, dead.

She looked towards where Spike had been frighting, and was pleased to note he'd snapped his opponent's neck. Okay, so, two dead, one to take for questioning. Not too bad. "She alright?" she called to Wes, who nodded, lifting the still-limp Fred into his arms. _Least the woman's found herself a knight in shining armor. _ She reached down, grabbed the back of the unconscious man's robes, and started to drag him away.

"Not gonna be nice, pet?" Spike asked, sarcastically.

"Nope," Buffy replied, "In fact, I'm going to make the trip home as rough as possible... Maybe they'll think twice about dealing with our small army now..."

"I seriously doubt it," Wes commented, "From what Giles was telling me of their history, they don't give up easily... Did he tell you of the slayer who stopped them, four hundred years ago?" Buffy shook her head, as did Spike. "She was in a situation much like yours, Buffy... She managed to stop them from performing the ritual, at the cost of her own life. Both Giles and I believe the Watcher's Council killed her child... "

Spike scoffed, "Sounds like summin' those wankers'd do. Good thing th' old council doesn't exist anymore."

Buffy nodded in agreement. She couldn't help but wonder what they'd have done with her baby, had they learned who the father was, and what the current nasties needed to end humanity. She knew it wouldn't have been very pleasant... After all, they weren't above extreme measures... They'd wanted to have Giles deported, they'd tried to kill her, while she was Faith, they'd tried to kill her when she was eighteen, with that damn "slayer rite-of-passage" thing, hell, they'd even tried to withhold information on Glory, simply because she wasn't falling in line like a good little slayer... and that could have easily resulted in the end of the world. All in all, the old council weren't the greatest of people... Quite frankly, Buffy was beginning to think she owed whichever agent of the First who'd blown them up, a favor... It was certainly saving her, and her friends alot of grief.

-------------------

As it turned out, Buffy's group was the only who found anything. With the newbies- the ranks of which Jory, Crys and Summer were no longer a part of- sent to the dorms, the occupants of Slayer Central tied up their unconscious hostage in the library, whilst research on the cult continued. Everyone was sitting at the table, doing their part in said research, aside from Buffy and Fred. Fred still hadn't woken up, and Buffy was too busy leaning back in her chair, feet on the table, eyes shut, determined to make up for the sleep she'd lost the night before, since catnapping in her office didn't quite cut it. She was just dozing off, when someone whacked her legs with a rather heavy book.

She opened one eye, to give the culprit a one-eyed, sideways look of deepest loathing. It was Faith who'd done it. The dark-haired slayer shrugged, and pointed at Giles, whom was looking at Buffy with an expression of extreme displeasure. Glaring at him, Buffy put her feet on the floor and sat up straight, and took a book off the large pile in front of her. As long as it was in english she could read it. Nope. No good. Not english. With another glare at Giles, for having disturbed her nap, she went through the books until she found one she could muddle through. Although she was grateful when their captive began to stir. He didn't, however, awaken.

"So, how do we get him to talk when he wakes up?" Xander asked, not taking his eye from the book in front of him.

"Torture him?" Cordy suggested, at which Jory nodded enthusiastically.

At the strange looks she got, Jory shrugged, "What do you expect? I've been living in a house with him for two and half years," she pointed at Spike.

"Sure, blame me," Spike grumbled.

"Jory, living with Spike has nothing to do with it," Buffy told the girl, "You just like hitting things."

"Not true," Jory countered with an evil grin, "Stabbing's much more fun."

Everyone rolled their eyes, but paid no further attention to her. After all, it appeared that Fred had woken up. Where as before she had been slumped forward in her chair, she was now sitting up straight, rubbing her jaw, and wincing. Wes had his arm around her shoulders, to which the woman gave him a grateful smile. "Knocked me a good one, didn't he?" she joked, wincing again, at the pain talking caused her.

After a bit of fuss about whether or not she was okay, research continued, until Buffy came across something of interest. Something other than a child was needed for the ritual that the Fleur de la Mort wanted to perform. A set of statues, seven in all, each representing something. Life and Death. Good and Evil. Order and Chaos. The seventh was Power. Suddenly intrigued, Buffy kept silent, and continued reading. Giles had left out details on the results of the ritual, should they succeed. It seemed that Fleur de La Mort were all about opposites, and balance. Even their name, now she thought about it, suggested that... Most people would associate a flower, with life, yet they used death, instead. She found a page of a journal, that had, luckily, been translated into english. It spoke of the balance between life and death, and creation and destruction... By destroying the future generations of humans, a new race would be born... Death brought Life. It didn't say what this new race would be, only that it would bring about the swift end of all humans. To them, it seemed, that wasn't quite balance, but it was an equivilant exchange. The balance was to come afterward, but Buffy couldn't find anything more on it...

Okay, so, concentrate on the statues then... Life and Death, Good and Evil, Order and Chaos, and Power... Why did she recognize the one for power? She'd seen that little statue before. It looked to be a mass of various symbols, none of which meant anything to her.. .so why should she know it?

"Giles!" someone cried, and Buffy's head snapped up. That was Eason, "It took me a bit, but I just found something else they need."

"Seven statues, each representing something?" Buffy offered, enjoying the look of immense shock on both Eason and Giles' faces.

"How'd you know?" Dawn asked, "We've spent a while trying to translate all that."

Buffy held up her book, "Got a version in english right here."

"There was one in english!?" Dawn was obviously upset. She sighed, "Over it... So, what's the rest of that one say? We only translated the bit about the statues."

So Buffy recited what was in the book, and as it turned out, Dawn and Eason's had no illustrations of the statues, so score two for the Buffster. Everyone, save for Angel's group, found the statue oddly familiar, as well, though none could place it.

"Looks kinda like the thing Giles bought a few months ago," said Crys, "He stuck it in the living room... looks horrible in there-..." she noticed everyone staring at her, "Oh...Well, you guys hadn't figured it out either!"

Giles hurriedly left the room, and returned a moment later with the Power statue in his hands, muttering to himself. So they had one... If the ritual couldn't be performed without them, then just smash that and be done with it. She said as much to Giles, who shook his head. "It doesn't work like that, Buffy, I'm sorry. They _can't _be destroyed." To prove his point, he threw it onto the floor with as much force as he could muster. The statue, amazingly, shattered, yet within seconds had put its self back together, and looking at it, you wouldn't have known anything had happened to it. "You would get the same result if you tried destroying it with magic. I knew that when I bought it, I just didn't know what the blasted thing was for..."

"So if one is here, where are the other six?" Cordy asked, getting shrugs all around.

"Mon dieu, l'un des sept!" cried a voice from behind them. Their captive was awake, and staring intently at the black statue in Giles' hands.

"Well," Spike drawled, "Look who's awake..." He looked at Wes, "Reckon if I cause him enough pain, he'll start speakin' english?" He started to rise from his chair, for effect, and the cult member started to wriggle backwards in vain attempts to get away. "Pipe down," Spike ordered, "I won't pound your face in if you talk." There was a glint in his eye that said he'd pound this guy's face in, even if he did talk.

Much of the group had gotten up from their chairs by now, and were forming a semi-circle around their hostage. "You got the other six of these?" Buffy asked, jerking her head towards the statue. "And in english, please."

"Femme stupide… Je ne vous dis pas quelque chose," the man muttered. Buffy shrugged, acting as if she didn't care... then procceeded to punch him as hard as she possibly could. Partially because he'd disobeyed her, and partially because she knew what the first part had been. She didn't appreciate being called stupid.

"I'm...not.. telling... you..." he panted, his accent thick. "Ze events 'ave already been set een motion... you cannot stop zem."

"Wanna bet?" Dawn scoffed.

The man looked at her, "You... You are of no interest to us." His eyes found Buffy, and he studied her for a moment, "eet is your child zat we need... And we shall get what we need, no matter ze odds. Zere is no way you can avoid eet."

"Hit him again," said Spike lazily, but there was a heavy undertone of fury, and -was it possible?- fear. "I think he needs t' be reminded o' just who he's dealin' with, love."

The french man laughed, "You really theenk zat causing me pain will save ze child, or anyone else?"

"No, but it'll make us feel better," that was Wes.

Buffy quite happily hit the man again, "Fine... Where are you and your buddies hiding?"

Another laugh, followed by a shrug, " I do not know."

"Jory," said Spike, "jog 'is memory, pet." Jory, eager for a bit of violence, did so, by way of a good kick to the face.

The man slumped forward, and spat blood, and a few teeth onto the floor, "Torture me, kill me, eet will make no difference... Ze high preist 'as an army at 'is disposal."

Buffy turned to look at Giles, and ask if she could kill the man, and found that he was heading out of the room, mumbling. "Giles!" she called, remembering when she'd been in college, and had been told not to kill Spike, "I accidentally killed this frenchie, is that okay?" She got no answer. Not even a second glance.

"Your efforts to stop us will be pointless," her potential victim spat, "You will not be able to stop us, as ze previous slayer was... You let your emotions rule you... Zat makes you weak." Buffy was having serious trouble holding herself back now. She wanted nothing more than to kill the man in front of her. Though the question was, could she do it? The answer was yes, if it came down to it, she could.

However, she got no time to put that theory to the test, for somehow, their captive had managed to escape from his bonds. However he did it, it was fast, and before Buffy could so much as blink, he was lunging at her... Considering who else was in the room that wasn't the brightest of ideas. It wasn't quite clear _who_ killed the man, but it was likely a mix of Spike, Wes, and Angel. Who delivered the killing blow was of little importance, considering that he was well and truly dead. They'd be getting no information out of him. Not that Buffy figured they'd be getting any, anyway. Sometime, during the brief fray. Buffy had ended up on the floor. _When did that happen? _She gratefully accepted Fred's hand when it was offered, to help her up. With a nod of thanks to the woman, she turned towards the door, intent on finding Giles and telling him what had happened.

Giles was already back, though. "Good lord... What happened?"

"He got loose," Cordelia answered, "so the trio of hottness over here took care of him." Wes turned slightly pink, Angel ducked his head, and Spike just scoffed.

"Oh... Well... I guess it's for the best. He wouldn't have been able to give us much information anyway... If what I was reading is true, he had a spell on him... Were we to try and gain information by force, then he would forget anything that might have been important."

"Perfect," Buffy muttered to herself. So how were they supposed to get any information? The last time someone had told her they had an army they could use to get to what she was trying to protect, they hadn't been lying... "You think it's true, what he said, Giles? That it's pointless?" When Giles didn't answer right away, she sighed, "Never mind... I'm going to bed."

"Good night then," Giles replied, as she walked away. "Oh, and Buffy?" she stopped, and turned towards him, "Trying is never pointless."

--------------------

Some of you may recognize Dawn's outburst from season 7 of Buffy when she was told that there was a translation of a book she was readin.. I couldn't resist using it again

Also, maybe be a bit longer than normal till the next update, since my dad has been home over the weekend (he's a trucker) so I haven't had much time for writing the past couple of days, so I haven't finished chapter 5 yet.


	6. Back on Track

Well, I was hoping to get a few more reviews on the previous chapter, but oh well... 

This chapter, and the next aren't much for excitement. As the title of this one suggests, they're getting back on track...

CHAPTER FIVE: Back on Track

The next week was... Well, odd. One, there were four extra people in the mansion. Two, one of those four people had killed eight slayers, and although most the girls there now hadn't been there for that incident, they'd heard about it, and it got Angel alot of distrust. Three, Buffy, among others, was still trying to get used to the idea that she was pregnant. Dawn, was of course, ecsatic at the prospect of being an aunt, and Cory was, so far, liking the idea of being a big sister. And Buffy found, when she could get past the initial worry, that she was happy as well. Spike was happy, too, that much was obvious, and he found it difficult to keep up his "Big Bad" routine for the guests, the moment he'd lay eyes on Buffy. This was due to that fact that he couldn't help but smile... And while at first seeing him genuinely smile, and not just smirk like he usually did, was rather odd, Buffy found she preferred the smile to the smirk.

They patrolled, every night, looking for any clue as to where the enemy was, or where the six remaining statues might be, so far, no luck on the enemy route, though they had located the statue for death. A local antique shop had it, and while Buffy hadn't been too happy with the price of the damn thing, she figured a big chunk of money was better than having the human race wiped out. Not that there were money troubles, what with an already formidable amount of money they'd taken from Weedpatch, California, coupled with whatever money each resident had to themselves, the jobs a few of them had weren't even really necessary. But Buffy still saw no reason to be stupid with said money.

Right then, she was sitting beneath one of the weeping willows, waiting for the return of Oz and Willow. Willow had called, a few days before, and unfortunately, Buffy hadn't answered the phone, so she could tell them all was well. No, Crys the blabbermouth had gotten it, and couldn't wait to tell Will what had gone on. Thankfully, Buffy'd been able to kick her off the phone before she could get to the real bit of news. Alas, the girl had talked enough, that Will and Oz had seen fit to return early. They'd promised to appear outside, instead of in, since Buffy'd told them that people were a little on edge, after having the frenchies teleport right in.

Buffy looked at her watch, and sighed. Five minutes late, and it was getting dark. She looked towards the mansion. Technically speaking, she shouldn't have been out there, alone, that close to dark. But hey, Wes had put up wards, and warning spells around the house- (he was actually very adept at magic... the smoke in the library had been a result of Cordelia's worrying that he hadn't used enough of an ingredient to transport them all)- So if anyone came in that wasn't supposed to, they'd know... Granted she hadn't taken into account the teleporting thing, but she was sure Wes had. After all, he was the always responsible watcher-type... right? Well, sorta right. He'd seemed... preoccupied... when he'd done the ward spells that evening.

At least there hadn't been anymore direct attacks on slayer central, hence no interruptions as far as research went. So far they hadn't turned up much more than what they'd already known, which frustrated Buffy to no end. As if it weren't bad enough that they couldn't find these guys, now they couldn't find anymore information on them.

She sighed again, and looked up at the sky. The first few stars were starting to peek through clear spots in the cloudy sky. From the smell in the air, it would rain soon. More than two years of living in this soggy country had taught her to know when it was really going to rain, and when the weather simply wanted to mess with them. Taking another deep breath, and enjoying the smell of the rain, Buffy realized how tired she was. She hadn't been sleeping well, lately. Always on guard, in case they were attacked again. Her eyes started to close, against her will. She forced them open, for a moment, before they closed again...

... "Buffy! Wake up!"

The slayer's eyes snapped open, and she sat straight up, "Huh, what's wrong?" Willow and Oz were standing in front of her. "I just closed my eyes for a second!"

"Sure you did," Oz replied, "We've been trying to get you up for five minutes."

Willow said nothing, she just hugged the bleary-eyed slayer. "So what's up with the big bad this time?"

"I'll explain everything on the way up to the house, 'kay?" Buffy replied, rubbing her eyes, "Nice to see you guys, but you really didn't have to come back early."

The next few minutes was spent explaining things... When she finally got to telling them _why _this cult was after her, well... She was pretty sure that she was going to have every bone in her body broken by the force of the hug that Willow gave her. "Will... Air... becoming an issue here..." the slayer gasped, sure that if the witch hugged her any tighter, she'd pop.

"Oh! sorry!" said Willow, releasing her, "But that's great... Isn't it?... 'Cause, if it's not, you know... I can pretend to be upset."

"No, good thing, I think..." Buffy replied, "The whole evil cult being after the baby is not of the good, but other than that..."

"How'd Spike take the news?" Oz asked, curious.

"He knew before I did, actually," Buffy answered, sounding a bit annoyed, "But he was happy about it."

"Willow!" that was someone from the door. Fred. Buffy'd almost forgotten that those two were friends. After several minutes of non-stop chatter, they were finally able to get into the house, only for Willow and Oz to be greeted enthusiastically. They'd only been gone for a little over a week, but with the way they were being bombarded, they may as well have been gone for months.

---------------

"Well, I might be able to come up with a spell to destroy them, or at least a spell that will allow them to be destroyed, but I'm not sure... It could take weeks, or months, to sort out all the spells that are on them right now... You have to know what's there in order to counter it," such was Willow's verdict on the two statues they'd managed to obtain.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't what Buffy'd been hoping for, but it was better than nothing. She watched as Willow turned the Power statue in her hands, staring intently at it. "It's old," said the witch, "And full of power, just like the other one... And it's not a good, or evil energy coming from it... It's kind a neutral energy, like it could swing either way. The other one isn't evil or good, either... it is what it is. Death. Which is a natural part of life. You said there were some for life, good, evil, chaos, and order? All of those, save for good and evil will prob'ly have the same neutral vibe, since they're all a natural thing."

They were all in the living room, a change from the norm, which of course was the library. Angel, who still hadn't been fully accepted as part of the group, was staying towards the back of the room, with Cordelia by his side. During the last week, Buffy had found out for a fact that they were together. While once, that might have made her jealous, it didn't even phase her now. She also knew that Angel was eager to get back to Wolfram and Hart, though whether that was from being uncomfortable with being in the presence of people who should have hated him, or because he genuinely needed to get back to work, Buffy wasn't sure. It was likely a mixture of both. With a sigh, Buffy surveyed the people in the room. Not five minutes ago, they had been happy, and laughing, as Oz and Willow told of their trip. Now everyone was solemn and serious... Not even a hint of the happiness that, of late, had been in short supply. Buffy was already missing the smiles and laughter. The sooner they dealt with the problem of the Fleur de la Mort, the sooner things could return to normal in Slayer Central.

Well, as normal as was possible. Over the years, Buffy's definition of normal had become alot different than most people's. Her idea of normal was patrolling, killing vampires, maybe a demon or two, then going home. And let's not forget the training of other slayers. The definition of un-normal was an apocalypse, with a side of a dreary home life, until said apocalypse was taken care of. And a dreary home life was of the bad.

---------------

Even with Willow home, and able to try locater spells, and Oz to try tracking, there was no luck in finding the enemy... Research was done constantly to try and find where they might have hidden, but no clues came. Though one day at work, Buffy found the answer to something she'd been wondering; they were obviously french, so what were they doing in England? The answer? There was a predesignated spot in which they were to perform their ritual, which happened to be there in Salisbury, yet the cult had originated in France... With their talents for teleportation, they hadn't bothered to move to England. In other words they were likely in France, where it was highly unlikely that Buffy or her friends would be able to find them.

Angel had returned to LA a few days before, along with Cordy, but Fred and Wes had stayed behind, saying that they would stay, until the threat was gone. Both Cordy and Angel said they'd pop in (quite literally in fact) now and then to make sure no more help was needed. Buffy had tried to talk Fred and Wes out of staying, since she knew they were needed at Wolfram and Hart, but they both assured her that if they were really needed, someone would call, and let them know. After all, Wes, being an adept magic-user, could have them back home in the blink of an eye.

Right then, Buffy was napping, with her head resting on her arms, in her office. She still hadn't been sleeping, what with the not-finding of the Fleur de la Mort, and the fact that they could pop in at any given time... Though Willow had put up spells to keep that from happening, so that wasn't a valid excuse. She raised her head enough so that she could see the clock on her computer screen. and was happy to note that it was almost time to go home. Maybe if she could catch Robin, she'd ask for a ride home. She didn't need the time for thinking on the way home today. Nope. Today she was going to go home, and immediately immerse herself in helping with the training for the girls. She had to have something to occupy her, otherwise she just might go crazy, and that simply wouldn't do.

Luckily, she was able to find Robin before he even left the building. He happily agreed to give her a ride home, which allowed Buffy to arrive, before the others did. So, she had a little time to wait before the training could begin. Good.

She was just passing through the training room door when someone caught her arm, spun her around and kissed her. Spike. She didn't bother to try and break away to ask how he'd known she was coming. He always knew when she was around. Instead she kissed him back. There hadn't been much time for anything but research as of late, so they were both a little starved for attention. When they finally separated, Buffy was quite certainly feeling better than she had been a few moments ago.

"Well," said Buffy with a smile, "I was planning on doing a little extra training before the rugrats came home..."

"But?" Spike replied, an eyebrow raised.

"But, I think with a greeting that good, training can wait for a while," she finished, kissing him again.

"My thoughts precisely, pet."

-----------------

Dawn impatiently drummed her fingers on the dining room table. She was bored out of her mind. She'd gotten used to patrolling every night, but no longer was that going to happen. Both Buffy and Giles had deemed it somewhat pointless to go out and search. when it was clear what they were looking for wasn't in town, or, more likely, even in the same country. Seemed things were back on track in slayer central, which meant that evenings were mind-numbingly dull. She didn't even notice when Wes joined her, and when he spoke, she nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Dawn?"

"Gah! Don't do that, Wes."

"So sorry, I just noticed you in here alone, wondered if something was wrong."

Dawn smiled at the man. He'd been in the mansion for all of two weeks, and already Dawn knew she liked him. Of course, she'd been given the memory of seeing him once or twice, before, but that had never really happened, and he was completely different now.He seemed to naturally want to protect people, a good trait in any guy, and he was completely devoted to Fred. It was going to majorly suck when he had to return to LA. "Nah, nothin' wrong, just bored. I was getting used to being able to patrol every night."

"Well, why don't you go with Buffy and Faith?" the former Watcher suggested.

"Only Faith's patrolling tonight... Buffy's upstairs, in her room... With Spike..." Dawn replied, "Hence why I'm not going up there, for another couple hours at least."

Whereas Giles would have removed his glasses to begin cleaning them so hard a lens would have popped out, Wes only laughed, "Perhaps a wise choice. I take that to mean that everything is getting back to normal, around here?"

"Well, as normal as they can be.. .But they'll get un-normal again soon... Just wait until Buffy can't patrol anymore. She'll drive us all up the wall. But personally, I can't wait for her to start gaining weight... it's gonna be fun teasing her about not being able to wear her normal clothes anymore."

Wes chuckled and shook his head. His reply, whatever it may have been, was cut off by Giles' voice, calling him. With a sigh, he bade Dawn goodnight, and headed off towards the direction the call from Giles had come from. The next moment came the sound of thundering footsteps, and Corrine and Jory came racing through the room. Jory seemed to have just gotten out of the shower, for she had only a towel wrapped around her thin body. Cory had a pile of clothes her arms, and was running as fast as her short, plump little legs would carry her, and laughing like a maniac. They made a few circuits around the table, before the water dripping from Jory caused them both to go sliding across the floor. Cory grabbed the clothes, and took off again, before Jory was able to get back to her feet, but her long legs made up for the difference, and she raced off down the hall after the theif.

Dawn shook her head. Yup. Things were back on track. She got up from her chair, and decided to head upstairs... With Spike and Buffy... distracted... this was a good chance to spend some extra time with Eason...

-----------------

Spike stumbled out of his and Buffy's room at three in the morning, unable to sleep. How exactly leaving the room was going to help that any, he didn't know, but he was going downstairs nonetheless, if only to stay awake, instead of sleeping. He was halfway to the stairs when a door opened behind him. He turned, to see who else was suffering from sleep deprivation, and saw Dawn leaving Eason's room, and heading towards her own.

"Th' fuck you doin'?" he asked groggily, and Dawn froze.

Sighing, the girl turned to face Spike, and said, "Don't even start, Spike, please. I would like to actually sleep for a few hours before dawn," she held up a hand to stop him from interrupting her, "Don't want, or need a lecture, so save it for when Cory's a teenager." With that, she continued on her way, leaving Spike standing in the middle of the hallway, staring after her.

After a moment, of letting her words sink in, he sighed, and shook his head in defeat. He continued his trek downstairs, grumbling to himself. He thought about what she'd said about Cory, and realized that was a nightmare waiting to happen. The thought of Corrine at Dawn's age? Terrible. That brought about the thought of what would his real daughter be like- like Buffy, he was sure it was a girl... another Summers girl to torment him-... Would she be as spunky as her mother? Would she have his attitude? The amazing ability to get in and out of trouble, no matter what? Buffy'd described the baby from her dream to him in enough detail that it was easy to picture the girl, whom Buffy'd already named Storie. Spike had no objections to the name. After all, who was he to argue about an odd name? Look at his.

With another sigh, he went to the kitchen, determined to find something to keep him awake. There was once I a time when he would have been able to be wide awake, no matter the time... That was one of the downsides to not being a vampire anymore; the need of caffine to stay awake at all hours.

It wasn't but two hours later that the first of the residents started to stir, and get out of bed. Well, it was nice to have a little alone time, but not the daily routine of Slayer Central was beginning. Time to get out of the way, before the herd reached the kitchen... People in this house were scary in the mornings.

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Hit the review button... you know you wanna :p


	7. Christmas Preparations

okay, got this chap done. Mostly filler, till the end... Hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER SIX: Christmas Preparations

"God, this is really pissing me off," a grumpy Buffy complained, yanking a fifth pair of jeans that didn't fit, off her legs. "They fit a few weeks ago," she grumbled. She chucked the offending item of clothing at Dawn, whom was standing in the doorway, snickering at her sister's misfortune. Dawn caught the jeans, laughing. Buffy, now wearing only a blouse- which was slightly more loose than what she normally wore to work- sat down on the bed with a groan. After a moment she flopped back against the pillows, arms crossed over her already swelling belly. While on the one hand it was somehow nice to be able to feel, and see proof of her pregnancy, it made fitting into her old clothes a right pain in the ass.

"Slayer!" Spike's voice drifted into the room, "You bloody dressed yet? Giles says to hurry!"

"Tell Giles he can wait a few minutes!" Buffy called back, "I'm looking for something to wear!"

"In other words," Dawn shouted, "She can't find anything that fits!" This resulted in a shoe being tossed at her head.

Finally, Buffy settled on a pair of black jogging pants, with a draw-string waist band, and a plain white t-shirt. Okay, so she didn't look as office-like as she generally did, but oh well. Seemed she'd put off shopping for new clothes a bit too long, but dammit, that just meant she was one step closer to having to accept the painfully frilly maternity clothes. Okay, so once, back in Sunnydale, she might not have minded frilly and cheerful. But she'd changed alot since then, and overly bright and cheery wasn't her anymore... Something Piper, from the show Charmed had said came to mind: _"I need something that goes with combat boots, something mommy can kick some ass in!" _Amen to that. Well, Tandy could sew. Hell, the girl made all of her own clothes... Maybe she could make a few things for Buffy.

By the time she got downstairs, Giles was pacing impatiently, "Buffy, if you're going to take this long to get dressed every morning you're going to have to find someone else to take you to work, or heaven forbid, you pluck up the courage and drive yourself."

"Giles, me, and driving are unmixy things... Or need I remind you of what happened to mom's car during the band candy incident?"

"Dear lord, please don't," said Giles, holding up his hands in surrender, "That was a night full of unpleasant memories."

"So having sex with mom on the hood of a police car was unpleasant?" Dawn chimed in as she ran down the stairs, two at a time.

Spike, in the middle of gulping down a mug of blood, suddenly choked, and the blood came rushing back into the mug, some of it, Buffy was sure, by way of his nose, "He and Joyce did what?" he asked, laughing, and coughing at the same time.

Giles, by now, had turned beet-red and mumbled something about being outside, waiting for Buffy, and hurried off, leaving the other three, still chuckling at his embarrassment. It was so nice to have a weapon to use against him now and then. Waving goodbye to her sister, and Spike, Buffy followed the former watcher.

---------------

Wes was staring intently at his computer screen. Willow and Fred were near by, chatting happily. They had quite enjoyed the time they were getting to spend together, while Fred and Wes were staying in Salisbury. Three times, they'd had to go back to LA to help with a case, but other than that, they had been able to spend the last month in peace. No more attacks from the cult... Wes was sure they were just waiting until it got closer to the eclipse before they made another attempt to nab Buffy. After all, it'd be quite difficult to hold on to a slayer for six months. Wes leaned back in his chair for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and resumed his intent stare. He was trying to find out where the rest of those statues were. While he and Giles'd had plenty of time to try and track them down, they'd had no luck. Now Wesley thought he was close to finding a third...

Dammit. The statue for Order had been in a museum in London. The key words there being "had been". Cursing under his breath, he read the article before him. One line made him stop and think for a moment. Not because it was important, but because it was worded wrong. "An ancient statue was discovered missing this morning."... Wes shook his head at it. You couldn't discover something, if it was missing, and if you discovered it, then it obviously wasn't missing anymore. Obviously someone needed to half a talk with whomever had written this article. But he was getting himself off track. Back to reading... There'd be clues as to who stole the thing. Though Wes already knew the answer to that one.

There wasn't much detail about how the item had been stolen, only that no alarms had been triggered, and that the night guards had claimed that they hadn't seen or heard anything. That screamed magical means of removing it. He'd have to tell Giles that they'd lost at least one of the statues. For now, however, he had something else to do. With Christmas just around the corner, he needed to get Fred something, and perhaps have something sent to the others, in LA.

---------------

Spike was outside, scuffing his feet along the thin layer of snow that had fallen the night before. It wasn't going to last long, that was for sure. Never did. He snapped an icicle off one of the willow trees, and let it melt in his hands. There once was a time when it wouldn't have... or at least, not that quickly. He was oblivious to any noise, other than the music that blasted into his ears via headphones.

_Ring around the rosies  
Pocket full of posies  
Ashes, ashes, we all fall down_

_  
Nursery rhymes are said, verses in my head  
Into my childhood they are spoonfed  
Hidden violence revealed, darkness that seems real_

_Look at the pages that cause all this evil_

Amazing how dark and disturbing old nursery rhymes could sound when Korn got ahold of them... Humming along with the music, he continued his walk. Despite being able to go out in the sun, he didn't very often, and much preferred to come out on days like this, when the sky was completely grey, something Buffy'd found odd, since when he'd still been a vampire, and still bent on killing her, the time he'd gotten hold of the gem of amarra, he'd been rather keen to go out in the sun. Though that had been because he'd been feeling invincible. He didn't feel invincible now. In fact, with the failure at finding the cult, he was feeling rather weak. He was supposed to be able to protect the woman he loved, damn it... Not to mention his daughter... And yet there was nothing he could do.

Oh well. At least today was the last day of school before the holiday break... Then he wouldn't have to worry about something happening to Buffy when she was on her way home from work... Not until sometime in the second week of January anyway. He was constantly worrying that there would be a day when Buffy didn't come home...

A flash of something in the corner of his eye brought him out of his thoughts. Xander. Knowing the man wanted to say something, Spike pulled off the headphones. Over the last two years, they had come to a sort of truce. They no longer constantly nagged at one another... just random snide remarks if the occasion called for sarcasm, but other than that, they left each other in peace.

-----------

Xander Harris wasn't the smartest, or the strongest of the Scoobies, and he knew that. But Dawn had once told him that his gift was seeing everything. He stayed quiet while everyone else patrolled, and researched... He sat back and watched. He probably knew more about everyone in this house than anyone else did. No one else noticed the way everyone worried. No one else heard the whispered conversations among the watchers and slayers. Hell, no one else but Dawn had noticed that Spike spent the two hours before Buffy came home pacing outside, as though he were waiting for something bad to happen. Not that they all weren't.

"You know coming out here and freezing isn't going to stop something from happening, right?" he said to the demon, in a cheerful tone. Today was a day he wanted to annoy Spike. No particular reason other than that he wanted to.

"You know you could jus' bugger off an' leave a bloke t' his own business?" Spike replied, not looking at him, staring, instead, towards the cemetery.

Xander, not easily deterred, stayed put, "Why don't you just go an pick her up, instead of making the newbies think you've gone insane?"

"Sod off, Harris," Spike said, lighting a cigarette. That was a definite sign of worrying, since after he'd become mortal, he'd stopped smoking for the most part.

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Xander sighed. "Fine. Freeze your ass off for no good reason. " With that, he turned and left. Why he'd even tried to talk to Spike in the first place, he didn't know. But it was likely because he felt sorry for him. Whatever the reason. Didn't matter. Spike was too damn stubborn to listen to logic. Reaching for the doorknob when he arrived at the front door, Xander nearly fell forward when said door was yanked away from him, due to someone opening it from the other side. Faith.

"Oh, hey Xander," she said, "Sorry." She walked past him, heading for her car. She was likely going home, since Robin would be getting off work soon. "You might wanna get in there... Couple of the watcher brats are fighting... Think Dawn's winning."

With a wave, and a nod of thanks, for the heads up, Xander went inside. However, by the time he reached the scene of the forewarned fight, Giles had broken it up. Pity. Xander'd been hoping for something to do. Hm, there was Oz. Maybe he was up for a game of pool or something.

---------------

Buffy was just getting ready to leave, when she was stopped by one of her coworkers. It was Eileen Taylor. An overly-perky, obnoxious bitch. Her holier-than-thou attitude seriously irked Buffy, and Eileen had only been working at the school for two weeks. Avoiding her had instantly become a normal part of Buffy's routine.

"Interesting choice of clothing for the final day, Buffy," said Eileen, in an obviously fake sweet tone-of-voice, "Not up to your normal standards.

"I wasn't aware you noticed what I wore, Eileen," Buffy replied, making sure to add enough of her seething hatred for the woman leak into her also fake cheerful tone, that it would be noticeable.

If Eileen did notice, she didn't care. "I was merely making an observation... I'm just used to seeing you dressed... well, nicely."

She reminded the slayer alot of her first college roommate. God how she'd hated that girl. In fact, there'd been a few times when she'd wondered if Eileen wasn't the reincarnation of that girl, come back to haunt her._Right about now would be a good time for this to be like Sunnydale High... Cue the giant snake to come and destory the place, or at least eat her, please! Ghosts? Evil sea monsters? Anything? _"Well, I'll be sure to point out your lack of nice clothing next time you can find nothing to wear," Buffy replied, not bothering to sugarcoat the distaste at having to be in close proximity with this woman.

_Maybe she's a demon like my roommate was,_she thought hopefully, _maybe soon her people will come to claim her._ Truth be told, any day was a day to point out that Eileen looked bad... She was stick thin, not a curve to her, a long beak-like nose, beady eyes, and she wore far too much make-up. Truth be told she was rather fright-inducing.

"Buffy!" someone called, saving her from listening to Eileen's reply. Buffy turned to see who was calling her, as did Eileen.

"Ooh, my my my, isn't he simply a dream?" said the stick of a woman. It was Spike, and Eileen was paying far too much attention to him for comfort. Despite the fact that Buffy knew Spike wasn't likely to look twice at another woman, she still didn't like Eileen oogling at him.

"Spike?" said Buffy, as he reached them. Noting the way that Eileen's eyes were glued on to the bleached-blonde, Buffy stood on her toes and kissed him, taking him by surprise. When she pulled away she was pleased to note the obvious look of disappoint meant on her co-worker's face. "Why're you here?"

"Didn't want you walkin' home alone, pet," Spike replied, "For obvious reasons. "

"Someone got tired of you pacing around outside?" said Buffy, with amusement. "I was going to ask Robin for a ride, but with you here, I think I'd rather walk..." she turned towards Eileen, "I guess I'll see you when school starts again. Bye." With that she started walking down the hall, fingers entwined with Spike's. "Though hopefully you'll get hit by a bus on your way home," she added under her breath, earning a chuckle from Spike. He'd heard tales of the woman. None of them good.

--------------------

Dawn busied herself wrapping Christmas gifts. Two weeks to Christmas. Xander, Robin, and Wes had gone to get a tree. They got a large live pine tree every year, now, one that would take hours, and everyone's help to decorate it. The girls in the dorm would have their own, smaller tree, since the one the men were bringing back wouldn't have fit in there in a million years. The last of the gifts she had so far, wrapped, Dawn sighed, and sat back on her heels. Now she she just needed a tree to put them under. Hopefully the guys'd hurry. Decorating the tree was her favorite part about the holiday... Aside from the glorious food (so long as Buffy didn't try to cook), and the present-opening of course.

Downstairs someone shouted for her. Xander. That meant the tree had arrived. Gathering her brightly colored packages in her arms, Dawn headed down to the first floor, trying not to drop anything. She had quite and armload. And it was all bought with her own money. No stealing required. Buffy'd be proud. Speaking of Buffy... She still didn't have her sister's gift. Or one for Spike. Damn. She knew what to get for her sister, already. It was a matter of getting the money, without having to borrow from someone. _Maybe I should listen to Giles, and just get a job..._

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Dawn saw why she'd been called. Xander, Robin, and Wes were having a bit of trouble situating the tree so that they could get it into the door. Robin was saying something about Dawn needing ot hurry, 'cause they needed someone to tell them which direction to go. After half an hour of "A little to the left... no, the other left. No, no that's to far, go to the right a bit. That's your left again, I said go right!", they had the tree in the living room. The ceiling was high enough that thankful the eight-foot tree had plenty of room to stand tall. Now all that was left was to decorate it, and start putting presents under it.

Dawn and Crys were given the duty of going up to the attic to pull out the Christmas decorations. There were several very large, and very heavy boxes, hence why Crys had been selected to help. Slayer stregnth was always great. Okay, now it was time to find those pesky lights. The spools of lights were always what got sent down first. Ah, there they were. Coughing at the cloud of dust that was brought up, Dawn dragged the heavy coils of christmas lights to the stairs, and handed them to Crys. who took them to the bottom of the staircase, where whoever had volunteered to carry things to the living room would get them. Next came the box labeled "Glass baubles". Better be careful with that one, since most of them were Giles'. She doubted he'd appreciate it if all his ornaments were broken. It took a while, but eventually, all the boxes were out of the attic, and in the living room. Time for the decorating to begin.

-----------------

Giles was overseeing the decorating process, to make sure no one killed themselves, or worse, destroyed the house. So far, everything was going smoothly, without incident. Xander, Willow, Oz, and Dawn were wrapping lights around the tree, while Robin fed the light cord to them to stop it from tangling. Faith, and Crys were having fun hanginh mistletoe at random intervals, while Fred, Wes, Jory and AnnMarie hung decorations around the house. Cory was thankfully busying herself hanging stockings. As long as she stayed out of the way, things would be fine. Annnnd there went everything being fine. Cory was done with the stockings, and trying to help with the lights.

For a moment it looked as though things were fine, but Xander didn't see the girl, and ran into her, tripping, yanking on the light cord as he fell. This brought the tree crashing down.Giles sighed, pulled his glasses off, and began cleaning them furiously. One of these days, he was going to kill Cory...

"What the hell happened?" said a voice from the doorway. Buffy stood there, arms crossed, an eyebrow raised. Spike stood next to her, leaning against the wall, trying not to laugh. "Well?"

Cory crawled out of the mess of people, "Sorry Mama," she said, looking properly ashamed, "I tripped Xander." Spike could no longer hold in the laughter, which made Cory suddenly smile, "But daddy thinks it's funny."

"Spike would find a massacre funny," said Xander, getting to his feet, "So he's not much to go by, Kid."

"Hello, I am standin' right 'ere, Harris," Spike retorted.

It took several minutes, but they got the tree standing up again, and were happy to find that nothing had been broken. Once that was done, the decorating could continue, and thankfully there were no more mishaps.

------------------------

Somewhere, thousands of miles away, twelve robed figured gathered around a basin full of dark water. They had recently gotten a report from one of their female members about the slayer. When it had proven difficult to obtain the woman, they had contacted one of their own and told her to keep an eye on the slayer. They would put their main effort into capturing Buffy Summers when she was closer to giving birth... The less time they had to try and restrain her, the better, but that didn't mean that their agent in Salisbury couldn't try, or at least make her life hell... Or find a way to be rid of the slayer's demon lover. He could make capturing Buffy difficult.

The other slayers were of little importance, save for Faith. She, like Buffy, was powerful. The new, younger slayers were strong, but they didn't have the experience to be truly powerful. They were a small threat, and an easy one to avoid. Then there was the witch, and the warlock. Both were filled to the brim with power, and both were adept at using it. The witch had even raised the dead, an incredible feat.

But the real threat lay within the slayer herself... The last time a slayer's child had been used, the mother had ruined their attempts. At the cost of her own life, Maybe, but still, she had ruined everything. This time they would not be so lenient... As soon as they had the child in their grasp. Buffy would be of no more use. The best way to be rid of a useless being? Death.

The high priest smiled at these thoughts, as he and his underlings left the room, in a straight single-file line, as they had been taught to do. With an upward glance towards the moon that lay hidden behind the clouds, the smile grew larger. So many years of waiting, and the time was right around the corner, and they had practically been given what they needed on a silver platter. His forefathers must have been laughing, in the afterlife, at this turn of good luck.

---------------------

Now please please hit the review button :p


	8. Not So Happy Holiday

First off let me apologize for how short this is... But I haven't been sleeping, and I've been working every afternoon, at my grandmother's Kennel, so I haven't had much time to write.

Because of this, instead of two updates per week, there will only be one... Every thursday in fact. I'm sorry if this is an inconvience to anyone, but if you want long, and well written chapters, I gotta have more time to write them... As it is I only just now finished this one...

Also, the er, rendition of "12 days of christmas" in this, was written by me, I have the whole thing... Should any of you be interested in it, simply say so, and you'll get it.

CHAPTER SEVEN: Not-so-Happy Holiday

Christmas Eve. Tomorrow, she would hopefully have rid herself and the High Priest of the demon who protected the slayer. Her long, thin hands wrapped around a bottle of bourbon, as she poured herself a glass. Yes, by that time tomorrow would come the sounds of sirens, as the demon was carried off to the next town over, to the hospital. But that wouldn't do them any could. No antidotes for the poison he was going to ingest, save for magic. But, in order to counter something, you had to know what was there, and looking for what was there would take long enough that he'd be dead by the time they had a counter-spell.

The woman laughed at this thought, as she drank. One obstacle would be out of the way.

---------------------

Giles, were he not the way he was, would have had his fingers stuffed in his ears. The group of teenagers behind him had made up their own version of Twelve Days of Christmas, and were singing it at the top of their lungs. While some had nice singing voices, others did not. And now they were starting the song over again. Lord help him, he was going to kill one of them.

_"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me  
_

_a moogle in a christmas tree._

_On the second day of christmas my true love gave to me  
_

_2 sucky battles  
_

_and a moogle in a christmas tree_

_On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me_

_3 weird Symbols_

_2 sucky battles_

_and a moogle in a christmas tree_

_On the fourth day of christmas my true love gave to me_

_4 fights with Seymour_

_3 weird symbols_

_2 sucky battles_

_and a moogle in a christmas tree."_

Thankfully, they moved off a ways before he could hear anymore. Too many video games, for all of them. And too much time on their hands if they had come up with an entire song... Maybe he should give them a few extra things to study... The front door opened and in came Oz and Wes.

"Did you get it?" Giles asked, eagerly.

Both nodded, though it was difficult to see the movement through the various layers of coats and scarves. It had dropped down to several degrees below zero, something none of them were used to. Oz held up a rather messily wrapped brown parcel. He tossed it in Giles' direction. The watcher just barely caught it. He'd sent Wes and Oz to London, to retrieve one of the seven statues. He wasn't yet sure which it was, which was about to be remedied, as he started unwrapping it the moment he caught it. Chaos. Well, the more they got, the less they had to worry. Hopefully simply having the statues in their posesion would be enough to make sure that there was no trouble. Though it seemed unlikely.

---------------

Buffy was having a strange sense of Deja Vu, Christmas morning. It seemed she had been awoken like this recently. Someone jumping on the end of the bed, trying to get her up. Yes, she had been through this routine only two months ago. This time she didn't bother to try and go back to sleep. She simply got up, knowing it would do no good to resist an excited kid on Christmas. However, first things first, a trip to the bathroom was in order. Revisiting her midnight snack (erm, okay, _snacks_), during present-opening wasn't something she thought the others would enjoy. She returned to the bedroom a few minutes later, stomach free of the bits of gingerbread cookies, and pudding she'd scrounged from the kitchen, and her teeth brushed. Cory was sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed, and Spike was still under the covers, eyes firmly shut, as he murmered something about not wanting to get up before dawn.

Buffy, however, knew the perfect way to get him up, and to get rid of Cory. She crawled over the bed, until she could plant herself firmly on her lover's stomach, legs on either side of him. She ran her hands up his bare chest, leaned down, and kissed him soundly. Hearing a muttered "yech, mushy-stuff" from Cory, Buffy smiled against Spike's lips. Before she could straighten up, however, and see if the trick had worked on Spike, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, and crushed her against him. Next thing she knew, she was on her back, lips still firmly fused with her lover's.

"Mornin' pet," Spike murmured against her mouth. "How's the bite-size?"

"Annoying," Buffy replied, "I was hoping to keep those cookies for a while."

Spike chuckled, "Merry Christmas, Buffy."

"Merry Christmas, William."

----------------

As it happened, Cory's "Kid at Christmas" attitude was infectious, and soon, everyone was feeling unusually cheerful. Buffy laughed, as she popped a chocolate into her mouth, at Eason, whom was giving Dawn looks that could have killed. The reason being: she had wrapped her gift to him in so many layers of paper and tape, that already the gift had lost two thirds of its size, during the unwrapping process... And there was still paper to be removed.

Crys was too busy admiring a bracelet that her brother had given her to laugh at him. Jory was happily sorting through a varitable cornicopia of art supplies. One could practically see the new ink and paint stains on her hands and arms.

Giles was admiring a stack of ancient books, received from Willow. Apparently they were books he'd been looking for, for months. Needless to say, he was very pleased. Fred nearly fainted when she saw what Wes had bought for her; a simple ring of silver, fitted with tiny rubies, and moonstones. A pretty combination. Though judging from the look on Fred's face as she read the card, whatever Wesley had written would be the cause of a faint. Buffy could guess what he'd written, from Fred's sudden cry of, "of course!" followed by her practically leaping on Wes, and nearly kissing him senseless.

Buffy was fairly sure all present opening was done, by then, but was proven wrong, when Xander tossed a small box to her. Buffy, Buffy, unaware that he'd tossed it, didn't even try to catch it, and it smacked her in the head. Glaring at Xander, whom shrugged, and adjusted his eyepatch, Buffy examined the small box. No name on it, save for hers. It was then that it occured to her that she hadn't yet opened a gift from Spike. She flicked her eyes in his direction. He was pointedly not looking at her. That meant he was nervous. Curious, Buffy unwrapped it, to find a thin, flat, felt-covered box. That meant jewelry, unless he'd decided to be clever, and use a jewelry box to hold something else.

She opened the box, and found herself unable to speak. In the box was a white gold chain, on which was fastened a tear-drop shaped emerald. The gem was perfect, save for a single, heart-shaped flaw in the center. The flaw added a bit of character to it, in Buffy's opinion. Around the gold that held the gem in place, her name had been etched. Also there was another tiny chain, this one silver. It wasn't even big enough to fasten around even her small wrists, though it was obviously a bracelet. On it, hung another emerald, also with a flaw in the center. On the silver holding the jewel, _Storie_ was etched.

Written on the inside of the box was "For you, and the Little Bit. I love you."

Now it was Buffy's turn to kiss someone senseless, which she promptly did, with a cry of "It's beautiful! I love it!"

Everyone else, eager to see what the fuss was about, took a peek.

------------------

Outside, the woman watched, from the cover of a frozen willow. Dinner was about to be served, which meant soon, she would see if her weeks of watching the residents had proved her right about their habits. As a former profiler, for the police, she was good at reading people, and spotting their habits. She could look at a person, study them, for no more then a moment, and determine things about their personality. It was an ability her uncle, the High Priest, put to use often.

Perfect, one of the girls was heading to the liquor cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of wine, and a bottle of bourbon. Good. Everything was going according to plan, for the moment.

---------------

Dinner. Hallejuha! Willow was, for lack of a better word, starving. At least Buffy hadn't cooked. She had proven on more than one occasion, that, without someone helping her, she could burn water. A feat Willow had always thought impossible. But then, Buffy often proved that the impossible was actually possible.

Just as Willow sat down, Buffy entered the room, carrying the turkey, and trying to chase off Dawn, who was insisting that she could have carried it just fine on her own. Buffy was wearing the necklace Spike had given her, along with the black angora sweater she'd received from Giles. Once the turkey had joined the rest of the food, and everyone had seated themselves, dinner began.

It was as they were serving the deserts, things started to go bad. Spike, whom was the only one drinking bourbon, instead of wine (with the exception of Cory), was starting to look a little green. When asked if he was okay, he insisted that he was, of course, and they left it at that, with Buffy occasionally shooting him an "I know you're lying" look.

It was just as he finished his drink that the fact that he was assuredly not alright was made obvious. As he swallowed the last of his bourbon, Spike choked. For a moment afterward, he simply coughed, and tried to get rid of Buffy, who was quite obviously worried.

"Dammit, Slayer, I'm fine," he finally gasped, before standing abruptly, and turning to leave, looking worse than ever.

---------------

Spike, however, knew he wasn't fine, but if he didn't leave the room before he could no longer say he was, he'd end up causing a panic, and as amusing as that might have been, it was best he didn't. Too bad his body had other ideas. The pain in his chest worsened, and he doubled over, hand clutching his chest, over his heart.  
_A former vampire going into cardiac arrest...Never thought I'd see the day,_ he thought grimly, as he felt someone trying to lift him back up. Not going to happen. He could practically feel his body turning into dead-weight. _Not good, not good, not good._ He couldn't even argue that he was fine this time, not that he would have bothered to.

He blinked rapidly, as if that would stop his vision from blurring. It didn't of course, but that didn't stop him from trying. There were faded voices coming from every direction, though he couldn't make out anything they were saying.

He was sinking towards the floor now, as several pairs of hands tried to keep him on his feet. The feeling of the impact with the floor told him they failed. Someone rolled him over on his back, or maybe he did that himself, he wasn't sure. He could see faint shadows moving above him. Most likely people. He heard a few coherent things here and there like "poison" and "Call an ambulance".

The last thing he heard, other than the muffled speech that was everyone else's voices, was Buffy's voice, saying something about staying conscious. He didn't have much choice in the matter. He tried to say something to inform her of this, but he wasn't sure if he got the words out. His hearing was gone, completely, now, and the last remnants of his vision were going with it. As was his ability to keep himself awake.

For the second time, William was going to die, and he knew it.

----------------

Buffy had already been up, and prepared to follow Spike, when he doubled over, and started to fall. Despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to get him back up into a standing position. "Someone get over here and help me," Buffy called, but found that she was a few seconds too late, and help was already coming. She was losing her grip on Spike, and he was falling. Oz, and Summer were helping to hold him up now, but it wasn't helping. The demon hit the floor with a thud. Buffy rolled him over, keeping a firm hold on his hand.

"Crys, hand me that bottle," said Willow, remaining abnormally calm. Crys did as she was told, and liquor bottle in hand, Willow closed her eyes. Just as Giles was telling Dawn to call an ambulance, Willow's eyes snapped open. "Poison," she informed the group. "Magical."

"Can you use a counter spell?" Xander asked.

"Depends on the poison," Wes answered, before Willow could, "And how fast it works."

Dawn rushed back into the room, "Ambulance is on its way," she said, chewing on her lip. Cory tugged on her sleeve, "Dawn... What's going on? What's wrong?"

"Get her out of here," Buffy commanded, hearing Cory. Dawn nodded, and took the protesting child from the room. "William, you stay awake, do you hear me? Stay with us."

"b'sy bit," was all the reply she got, though she knew she knew she'd just been called a "bossy bitch". Well at least he was still with it enough to call her names. Buffy put her hand to his chest, and pulled back suddenly, as though burned. His heart was beating far too fast for comfort. The last time she'd felt a heartbeat that fast was when Riley had been dying...

She renewed her commands that he stay awake, "Spike, listen to me, stay awake, god damn it, stay awake!" Poison victims, however, don't often listen when told to stay concious. Such was the case with Spike. He was out cold, and fading fast, it didn't take a genius to tell you that. "Spike? Spike, wake up... William!?" No answer. Not even a twitch, "Where the fuck is that ambulance?"

"On its way," Oz replied, "And Willow and Wes are working on an antidote, or at least something to slow it down..."

But Buffy hadn't been listening past the news of the ambulance. Spike's breathing was slowing, his heart rate rising. If he didn't get help soon, he was most assuredly dead.

--------------------

So until thursday, I leave you to ponder his fate.

Oh and that christmas carol: written while playing Final Fantasy X if it wasn't obvious :p


	9. Dumb Luck

Okay I am SO sorry for not getting this up again sooner... This stupid site hasn't allowed me to upload anything since wednesday...

Anyway, hope ya'll enjoy.

And due to lack of sleep, and current sudden reading binge, if the next update is not up by Thursday, then it will assuredly be up by Monday

CHAPTER EIGHT: Dumb Luck

There were sirens blaring in the distance. Good, the ambulance was almost there. Wes and Willow were working on something to counter the poison, which they would continue to do whilst Spike was transported to the hospital. Giles was helping them, while Dawn tried to keep hold of Cory, and keep her away from Buffy and Spike... Seeing as how she was a slayer, that was a bit difficult. Whatever came next went by in a blur for Buffy. The panic bells going off in her brain weren't allowing her to be all that functional. There was the sound of the front door opening, and strange voices... Then a pair of paramedics, a man and a woman, were lifting Spike on to a stretcher, asking how long it'd been since he lost consciouness. Buffy wasn't sure, so Summer answered for her.

After that, all she remembered was telling them that she was going with them, and getting into the ambulance... Then the panic got worse, when the heart monitor that they hooked to Spike suddenly flat-lined.

"Shit," said the female paramedic, "Gonna have to defib him!"

For several agonizing minutes they kept trying to revive him. The man was ready to give up, telling his partner to "call it". When Spike's heart started beating again, Buffy made a mental note to thank the woman later, for not giving up...

They were, of course, headed to the next town over, as the "hospital" in Salisbury could barely count as that.

"What's his name?" the woman asked, once Spike was in a fairly stable condition.

"William," Buffy replied, "William Summers." Adopting her last name had been something they'd decided on, shortly after he'd ceased to be a vampire. Made things alot easier.

"Your husband?"

Buffy searched for a way to answer that, since it was a rather complicated thing. She finally settled on the simple answer, "Yes."

The woman studied her for a moment, "How far along are you?" When Buffy gave her an obviously puzzled look, she nodded towards Buffy's free hand, which was resting protectively on her stomach. She'd seen that gesture so many times before, she, of course, knew what it meant. "Hoping for a boy or girl?"

"Oh... Three months, and, a girl," Buffy replied in a vague tone. The paramedic made no attempts to talk to her after that... It was obvious when her tactic of occupying people by keeping them in a conversation wasn't going to work this time. After all, Buffy'd gone beyond the point of panic, and straight into cold detachment.

---------------

Things only got worse at the hospital. Spike's heart stopped again, and again as the doctors tried frantically to find out what was killing him. Buffy wasn't able to give them much information. One, because she didn't want to create suspicion, and two, because she really didn't know much, and three, because Willow had said it was magical poison, so she doubted, that even if she did say poison, the doctors would find no trace of it. Buffy watched through a plate-glass window, as Spike had to be revived a third time, and her resolve broke, and she started to cry. Not loudly, not even really sobbing. Just silent waves of tears, pouring down her face, dripping onto her shirt, and the floor.

"Please, please," she pleaded in a whisper, "Oh, God, please. Don't let him die." _He can pull through this... He's survived worse. _But that's when he was dead, an annoyingly harsh voice reminded her. He's alive now... It's alot easier to die when you're living. _Oh shut up,_ she told the voice, _I don't need you making things worse. _ Someone came out of the room, leaving the door open, and Buffy heard for the second time that night...

"Call it, doctor. Time is eight forty-five."

"No!" Buffy shouted, and the open door allowed her shout to be carried into the room.

The doctor looked her way, and Buffy could have sworn he sighed, in a surrendering manner. He shook his head, and said something that Buffy couldn't make out, and they began to try again. In the midst of this, Buffy's cell phone rang. With shaking hands, she pulled it from her pocket, and answered it.

"Buffy?" Wes' and Willow's voices said at the same time. "Please say it worked," Willow continued, sounding extremely anxious.

Buffy didn't reply right away, for right then, she had looked back up, just in time to see that Spike's heart had started beating again. The relief at this made her almost dizzy, and her knees felt somewhat as though they were made of jelly. She let out a choked sob, as she stumbled backwards to sit on a small chair. "Will," she managed to choke out, as more sobs shook her body.

Both Wes, and Willow must have mis-interpreted her sobs for ones of grief, not relief, for Willow said, "Oh, Goddess... I'm sorry Buffy... We had the counter spell... just wasn't fast enough..."

Buffy laughed through her tears, and she could almost see the looks of utter puzzlement on both their faces, "Will, he's alive... " she said, "And if you performed the counter spell, he should be fine..."

Willow sighed, audibly, "Oh thank the goddess... I thought for a minute that we found it too late..."

"You almost did," Buffy replied, seriously, "Another few minutes, and..." she paused, "Well, let's just say, I don't think the doctors would have tried reviving him a fourth time..." she wiped tears from her face in vain. Sniffling, she asked, "How did you find the spell?"

"Dumb luck, actually," Wes, this time, "We were examining the magical components in that bourbon, and we started experimenting with various things... We finally got the right combination, we just weren't sure if it was soon enough."

--------------

Dammit! Damn it all to hell! Perhaps she had underestimated the magic-users. Or it could have been a slight mis-calculation in the poison. Either way, it meant a mistake on her part, and her uncle didn't like mistakes. She was going to have to work hard to make up for this failure... But at least the demon had come close to dying. Had the counterspell those two magicians had cooked up had been one second later, he would have been dead. But her uncle wouldn't care about that. All he would care about was that she'd failed in one of her tasks. No one, not even family, got off lightly for a failure that great.

She would have to double her efforts, if she wished to avoid forcing the High Priest to the end of his rope. When he reached that point, people often died. Generally the people that caused him to reach that point. She had long since learned that even she, one of his favorites, couldn't escape his wrath.

----------------

Giles arrived at the hospital, with Willow, Xander, Dawn,Oz, and Cory in tow. The others had stayed behind. The group with him, however, had insisted on coming along, though Xander was likely coming to see if Buffy was alright, not Spike. The woman at the front desk told them where to go, and with a nod of thanks, Giles, and company, followed her directions.

Just what exactly what was it about hospital beds that always made the occupant look like they had shrunk several sizes? It was certainly having that effect on Spike. Buffy too, since she was curled up into a small ball beside him. Though being as tiny as she was anyway. the effect was doubled on her. The fact that she was even on the bed must have been a source of annoyance, for they had passed a rather irritated looking nurse in the hall, whom was muttering something about munchkins making her job difficult. Giles didn't envy the woman the look she'd have gotten if Buffy'd heard her. Since both demon, and slayer were, to all appearances, asleep, the group simply gathered around quietly. As there were only two chairs in the room, Willow looked around to make sure no one was watching, and conjured up a few extra, so they could all sit.

It wasn't until they had been there for at least half an hour that Buffy finally began to stir. When she sat up, it became obvious she'd spent a great deal of time crying before she'd gone to sleep. She looked around, blinking. Rubbing her eyes, she said, "When did you guys get here?"

"'bout thirty minutes ago," Dawn answered, "How's he doing?" she nodded towards Spike.

"Well, he still hasn't woken up, and of course the doctors had no idea what was wrong, or why he was suddenly okay, but I managed to stop the questions with major avoidance... But they said there's no reason why he can't wake up at any time..."

"It just depends on when 'any time' is, right?" Willow inquired.

Buffy nodded. She noticed Cory, whom had fallen asleep in her chair, "How'd she do?"

"Besides giving me several bruises while she tried to follow you, she did alright," said Giles, "But I don't reccomend you leave her behind next time there's some life-threatening situation... Which, knowing you, won't be far off."

"Way to show confidence in her," Oz joked.

"Oh I have confidence in her abilities to get into danger... Though after tonight I think I have a bit more, in Spike's."

"You mean you didn't before this?" Xander questioned, "He's always been in more trouble."

"Yet he's only died once," Giles reminded him, "Though I am fairly sure that is by nothing more than sheer dumb luck, much like tonight."

"Along with some kick-ass magic skills from me and Wes," Willow chimed in cheerily.

For a long while they talked about the events that had transpired in the last several hours. The topic of "Who" was never discussed, since that much was obvious. "How" was brought up, though, and they found no answer for it. After an hour or so, Willow, Oz, Xander and Giles left, just as Wes, and Fred arrived, with messages from several of the girls. Most consisting of the command that they come home soon. Soon being that night. But there was no way that was happening. By the time Fred and Wes had gotten there, Dawn, like Cory was fast asleep. Wesley was able to give a few more details on the poison that had so nearly killed Spike, than Willow had been able, or willing to.

The bourbon hadn't even been spiked with the poison, but rather, the poison had been bewitched to taste like the drink. hence there was no dilution of the poison. The question was, who had been the intended target? Had it indeed been Spike? Or had someone just taken a chance, and placed the "bourbon", in hopes that someone would drink it soon? But there was always the possibility they were being watched. If so, the spy might have known Spike was the only one to drink bourbon, in the entire mansion. The idea that they were being watched was a scary one.

---------------

"Uncle, please, I did not expect that the witch and the wizard were so powerful!" the woman pleaded in french with the tall figure who now stood over her, leather-wrapped staff in hand. She already bore several bruises from that staff, and wished no more.

"The reason for your failure is not their power, but your own errors and miscalculations," the High Priest replied, bringing his staff down on upon her ribs, enjoying the sound of her crying out in pain. "I suggest that you get back on form, dear niece, or I shall be forced to replace you."

The woman's eyes widened. "Replace" always meant "Kill" as well..."But Uncle... it was by nothing more than a mere stroke of luck that they saved the demon! Had they gotten the cure but a moment later, he would have been dead!"

"Which only makes your failure greater. We need the demon out of the way, before we can move on to disposing of the rest. "

"But Uncle, I am no match for him physically, and any magical means would simply be thwarted by the witch and wizard! How am I to dispose of him?"

"By cheating, Niece, obviously. Now is not the time for honor. If all else fails, then rid us of the magical ones first. As long as they, the demon, and all others who protect the slayer, die, it matters little how you do it."

"Very well..." she replied, rising to her feet, head bowed, "If I do not complete the tasks you have given me, Uncle, then I only ask that you allow me the honor of a swift death..."

---------------

A week. One agonizingly long week, Spike had been unconscious. The doctors referred to it as a "coma" but Buffy refused to. It made it seem like it was too likely that he wouldn't wake up. And that was something Buffy wasn't willing to accept. Ever. Some nights, she went home, whenever a ride was offered by her friends, but most nights, she stayed with Spike, much to the nurses' dismay. One particularly tall nurse (well, by Buffy's standards, extremely tall. Or, better yet, Riley-tall), claimed that having Buffy around made it hard for her to do her work. Buffy severely disliked the woman, and the feeling was mutual.

Right then, she was chatting with Dawn, whom had been brought by Eason, for a visit. Eason had volunteered to go get something to eat, so Buffy and Dawn were left alone, save for the unconscious demon.

"Wish Eason'd hurry up with that food," Dawn complained, "I'm hungry."

Her statement reminded Buffy of something. Looking up at the clock, "Shit," she muttered, leaning down from her chair, digging through the bag she'd been keeping things in. Her hand found the pill bottle she was looking for. Vitamins.

Since discovering that she was pregnant, she had put off going to a doctor to make sure everything was going fine. This was due to her distaste for hospitals, that she'd had since witnessing the death of her cousin. Granted, that had been because of a demon, but still, it had happened in a hospital, and while in highschool, she'd seen other children meet the same fate. No, she'd never like hospitals. She was desperate to get out of this one, as it was. But several days before, at Willow's insistance, Buffy'd had herself checked up on. Like she could have told everyone, everything was perfectly fine. The baby was safe, and soon to be increasingly active, according to the doctor. Though despite her being right about things being fine, he'd prescribed her several vitamins, to be taken at varying times during the day. She still wasn't used to the routine, so she often forgot, and had to be reminded.

"Forget again?" Dawn asked, as Buffy made a face of disgust, having allowed the pill to sit on her tongue for a moment too long, allowing her to taste it.

The slayer nodded, "Can't help it... I just... Just spend so much time worrying, everything else just seems kinda unimportant."

Dawn inclined her head in understanding. "He'll wake up eventually. Have you been keeping up with talking to him?"

"Of course." In fact, Buffy almost expected him to open his eyes and call her bossy, every time she got frustrated and said things like, "Spike you wake up, now, dammit!" But he never did. There had been a couple times when she'd thought he'd wake up, but it had been nothing more than a twitch of the hand, or flutter of his eyelids. No words, no eye opening. Just twitches and flutters.

Before further conversation ensued, Eason arrived, with their lunch. Despite quickly growing tired of the hospital food, and the hospital its self, Buffy wasn't going to leave. Not until Spike woke up. She might allow herself a day at home, to rest properly and shower, but other than that, she stayed. After they ate, Dawn left, hugging Buffy, and kissing Spike on the cheek.

"I think Fred and Wes are brining Cory by, later, and Summer," she said, "Cory's been dying to see you, and even though Summer won't admit it, I think she misses Spike. Jory says she's coming tomorrow."

Buffy nodded, and waved to her sister, and her boyfriend as they left. She smirked at the fact that yet again, Fred and Wes were coming together. She had been right, apparently, about what the card Wes had given Fred had said, or rather, asked. But they hadn't confirmed it to anyone just yet. Well, later, in Dawn's book could be anywhere from an hour, to several hours, so maybe there was time for a little nap. Scooting her chair closer to the bed, she took Spike's hand, and rested her head on the bad. And as she always did, she fell asleep, holding her lover's hand.

-----------------

Somehow, Buffy knew it was a dream, before she even opened her eyes. But that didn't make it any less pleasant. She had, in the dream, been dozing off in a chair, near the window, through which soft rays of light filtered. It was a room she recognized as one of the spare storage rooms on the second floor of the mansion. But it wasn't as she remembered it. Instead it had been re-painted, and wallpaper covered one wall. The wallpaper was rather cute. Little brown, fuzzy-looking teddy bears with black button eyes were all over it. Some where in denim over-alls, and some in denim dresses. The ones with dresses had a single pink bow on their heads. Against the papered wall was a crib, the sheets and blankets in which matched the wall. Beside the chair Buffy sat in was a table, with a lamp set dead in the center. The base, was also a bear. Obviously, this was the nursery, and while the decor was adorable, Buffy briefly wondered who'd chosen it. Bears wouldn't have been her first choice, though she found it hard to imagine Spike picking that out... But then, Spike was full of surprises.

It was then that she noticed the tiny form in her arms. A tiny hands were wrapped around her pinky, and index finger. Delicate eyelids shielded what she knew to be beautiful blue-green eyes. Tiny tufts of dirty blonde hair, that had slight curl to it stuck out from the blanket the baby was wrapped in. Buffy smiled, and couldn't help planting a small kiss on Storie's plump, round cheeks. The child stirred, and released her mother's fingers, but did not wake. _Just like Spike,_ she found herself thinking. _Can sleep through anything._ Just as she looked towards the book that was balanced precariously on her knee (_Goodnight Moon_ one of her own childhood favorites), the dream changed abruptly.

She was now in the dining room. Spike sat next to her, eating what appeared to be breakfast... Though it easily could have been lunch or dinner, since he often ate cereal instead of a proper dinner or lunch. Across the table was a girl with long black hair, and piercing ice-blue eyes. She stared intently at a thick book in front of her, occasionally looking away to write something on the papers next to it. That could only be Corrine. But she looked to be eighteen, or nineteen. Behind her was a girl of about ten with very curly dirty blonde hair, and blue-green eyes. She had her hands on her hips, and her bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

"Cory!" she said impatiently, in a bell-like voice, "You promised!"

"Go away, I'm doing homework," Cory replied, not looking away from her book, "I'll help you later."

"You said that yesterday," Storie complained, stamping her foot, and sticking her bottom lip out further. Oh yeah. she had the Summers' pout down-pat. She reached out and tugged on Cory's sleeve. "I'll bite you," she warned, and Buffy heard Spike chuckle. "I mean it," Storie insisted, and her eyes briefly flashed the same gold that Spike's did when he was annoyed or angry.

"Mom," said Cory, looking up at Buffy, "would you tell her to leave me alone?"

"Storie, leave your sister alone until she's done," Buffy replied automatically, "Cory, when you're done, do whatever it is you promised, understood?"

"Yes'm," both girls replied simultaniously.

"And Storie," she added, "You know what I've told you about biting people."

"Not to," said the girl, dejectedly, "But it makes a good threat!"

Another chuckle from Spike. Buffy elbowed him this time, "Don't encourage her. Just because she's part vampire-demon-thingy doesn't mean she can go around taking random nibbles off people. And unlike you, she doesn't even need blood to survive."

"Don't stop th' instinct none, love," Spike reminded her, with a smile towards his daughter.

Before Buffy could reply, she found herself being tugged away.

-----------------

Buffy's eyes fluttered open. There were several voices. Fred, Cory, and Wes (but no Summer), she assumed, since that was who it sounded like, but that wasn't what had brought her out of her dreams... No, what had done that was Spike's fingers, steadily squeezing her own. She looked up at his face, the others not yet noticing she was awake, and noted with disappointment, that he was still unconscious. Damn. She sat up straight, and greeted Wes, and Fred, and was given a bone-crushing hug from Cory. When she mentioned Spike having squeezed her hand, they informed her that he'd been doing so every now and then, since they'd arrived, and hour before. They also informed her that the doctor had been by, but hadn't wanted to awaken her. He'd said it was quite possible that Spike was finally coming around.

"How've _you_ been, Buffy?" Wes asked, after several minutes of pointless yet cheerful chatter, "You haven't left here, save for one night, and to be quite honest, you look bloody well exhausted."

"I am," Buffy admitted, as she braided Corrine's hair, as the girl had requested. Braiding was a technique that the child-slayer hadn't quite mastered yet. "But, I'm not leaving, not until he wakes up. Besides, if Dr. Chase was correct, that could be soon, remember?"

"Well, as long as it's not too much longer," said Fred, "I think Giles is about ready to drag you home on his own... Or was it that he wanted Faith to do it?" She looked at Wes, as if she expected an answer.

Wesley shrugged, "I don't pay attention to half of that man's rants... Haven't since he told me I had all the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone." The former watcher scoffed in disdain.

"Oh come on, Wes, admit it," Buffy teased, "When you were crushin' on Cordy, you _did _ have all the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone."

"Crushin' on Cordelia?" Fred inquired, raising an eyebrow, "I think you've got some explanin' t' do, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."

"Oh please..." Wes muttered, "That was before I met you, and also while I was still a, well as Spike might put it, tweed-wearing twit. I danced with her at her prom... One, and may I repeat, _one_ awkward kiss later, that was the end of that."

Buffy smiled, as the two began to argue about his past, in Sunnydale, and if there were any other crushes Fred needed to know about. There was no hostility in their words, it was nothing more than a good-natured banter. Rather amusing to listen too, actually. But she stopped listening as Spike suddenly shot up, shouting.

"I'm on fire!" this nearly scared everyone in the room out of their skins. Once done shouting, Spike blinked in a confused way, and looked at himself. "Oh..." he said, looking a bit sheepish.-------------------

Those of you who watch Angel may recognize that last bit... If not, well, ya will when Spike's dream is described next chap :p


	10. Chapter 10

I am sorry to say that this story is, until further notice, no longer going to be updated... I don't know how long it will be before I start updating it again... Could be months, could be weeks, hell, could be days.

There weren't very many people reading this but to those who were, I am deeply sorry.

It seems I have been able to get ideas for every other story under the sun, but not this one... I'm currently stuck with only one page of chapter 9 written, and with no sleep, plus things around here being hectic... Well, who know. If I hadn't been stressed out lately, I might not have come to a sudden halt in the writing...

Bear in mind that I will try to continue with this eventually... But I don't know when Eventually is...

Again, you have my sincerest apologies...  



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